


Oasis (Discontinued)

by Scor_pio



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Attempt at Humor, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Mates, No shapeshifting, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21998863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scor_pio/pseuds/Scor_pio
Summary: The Rogues are planning to kill us and if we aren't going stop them, then who will?Four Dragon Kingdoms: Air, Fire, Earth and Water must unite to defeat Rogues before they destroy their home.Minseok and Junmyeon, Water Dragons, go on an adventure with eight other dragons to defeat evil. Will they be able to look past their differences and work together as one?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai, Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Minseok | Xiumin, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay, Lu Han/Oh Sehun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	1. Starting Point

A translucent dragon with gusty wings, lands on the muddy ground. Their wings disappear and white eyes scan the path to the Great Tree. The dragon steps over, greeted with tiny fairies lighting up. Upon arriving at the Great Tree, a small fairy knocks on the trunk and the wood starts to morph into a tunnel.

A green fairy floats inside the tunnel and looks to see the translucent dragon. The dragon follows the small creature into the tunnel, hearing the faint flutter of the fairy’s wings and the hurricane rumbling in its body. They come to a stop at a concrete wall, with ancient runes written on it. The dragon tilts its head and turns to the Fairy.

The fairy flutters to the wall and whistles the words written. The small creature emits a glowing, green light from their palms and place them against the concrete. The ancient runes starts to glow and the wall starts to split in half. The wall led to a stairway and flowers began to glow every time they pass by. 

The dragon took the final step and saw a huge entrance, with trees covering them. Flowers, moss and roots were all over the place. The smell of earth was everywhere, earth air. The dragon took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Clean and natural, that’s what the air smells like.

The fairy whistles and motions the dragon to follow. Walking inside the temple, the dragon sees multiple other dragons: varying sizes, colors, features, but they all smell the same. They smell like earth because they’re connected to it. Just like how Air dragons are different but smell the same.

The Earth dragons stare at the translucent dragon. Translucent, white dragons symbolize air, mostly to blend into the clouds. Exactly how Earth dragons are mostly earthy colors to blend in with nature. The fairy whistles at the staring dragons and they all look away.

The dragon walks a little longer, appreciating the Earth dragon’s home. No matter how many times the dragon has visited, they’re still in awe at the natural beauty. When the Fairy whistles and motions at the Grand Temple, the dragon nods and walks inside.

Inside is three other dragons, one of them is sitting in a large body of water. The dragon’s body was entirely made up of water, with aquatic animals roaming inside of its body. 

The second dragon was surrounded by ash, the concrete of the temple being burned by the dragon. The dragon’s body, entirely made up of flames and magma. Magma making up the dragons shape but flames surrounding the magma, the dragon’s core.

The last one was made of wood and rocks with moss, flowers and few animals on. The dragon is bulky and huge, having a whole ecosystem on it’s back.

All three dragons stare at the Air dragon, translucent figure with a hurricane inside their body. The embodiment of an Air dragon. The dragons walks to the empty side of the boulder. The meeting should commence.

**“We’re here today because Cascade informed me that Rogues are planning on killing our kind.”** The Earth Dragon, Orestes, thumps his tail onto the temple ground, shaking the building.

**“Calm down Orestes, we don’t need to disrupt your dragons outside.”** The airy voice spoke, Aella, the Air Dragon.

**“We can just kill Rogues. My dragons and I have been killing them since they’ve started roaming into our territory and targeting us.”** A smooth voice, Cascade, the Water dragon spoke.

**“Humans don’t enter our territory?”** The husky voice of the fire dragon, Haco, exclaimed.

**“Of course no one would go into your territory, they’ll get burned alive.”** Cascade yells, a whirlpool starting to form on the dragon’s head. 

Aella sighs and looks at Orestes. **“We need a plan, we can’t have Rogues entering our Kingdoms and killing us.”**

**“That’s not the bad part. They’re also kidnapping dragons. I don’t know what they’re doing with them but I don’t want that happening anymore.”** Cascade remark. Ripples of water forms on the water dragon and sharks starts swimming towards the ripples.

**“Do they know about our evolution?”** Hacos asks. Orestes looks at the fire dragon and shakes his head.

  
  


**“Probably not but even then, they still know our weak spots. They still know how to kill us and it’s dangerous for us to go outside of our kingdom.”** They all look at each other and a shark inside of the water dragon bites their jaw. 

**“As I said before, why not kill them, it's worked before?”** Cascade questions and the Great White eats a dolphin.

**“I don’t want to kill them. You know how it makes me feel when I burn someone or turn them into ash.”** Cascade looks at Haco and flicks water at the dragon. Haco yelps and tries to throw a small flame towards Cascade, but fails when the flame dies when it touched the water. 

Aella looks at Cascade and shakes her head. **“Your kind are the worst. You kill any chance you get and still deceive with your charming looks.”**

**“Can we get back to the topic here? What’s our solution to this problem because we decided to ban them from our Kingdom but now they’re attacking, so that didn’t work?”** Orestes growls out and Hacos looks at Cascade and than towards Aella and Orestes.

**“What if we have an alliance… like, we select a few dragons from each kingdom and they work together to defeat Rogues. It’s like the games my dragons play in their free time.”**

**“This isn’t a game Hacos, it’s a life and death situation.”** Aella blows a harsh wind towards Hacos, making the dragon’s flames flicker. Cascade looks at Hacos and a small puffer fish puffs up on the dragon’s leg. 

  
  


**“I like that idea, the four kingdoms joining forces to defeat Rogues.”**

Aella looks at the Water dragon with a displeased visage. **“What’s with you killing Rogues?”**

Cascade and the sharks snarl at Aella. **“What’s with you and not killing Rogues? As far as I know, they haven’t killed or kidnapped your Air dragons.”**

Cascade looks at Orestes. **“They need fairies and codes to enter your Kingdom.”**

She shoots a few water droplets towards the fire dragon. **“Hacos can’t have anyone evade their home because they’ll get burned or turned to steam before they even make it. So I’m sorry that I’m very violent towards Rogues who mostly go after MY dragons.**

**Yes, I may live in hidden water caves but they have stupid ways to find us. Get a ton of your dragons killed and taken, then let’s talk about killing them.”** Cascade growls at Aella and glares at Orestes and Hacos. The three dragons stare at each other and Orestes huffs.

**“Fine, we’ll do what Hacos suggested. Next problem, who are the selected few?”**

* * *

The cave was quiet, a few great white shark was resting beside the entrance. A blue sea serpent was counting the whte pearls collected by the sea creatures. The sea serpent had gills along its long neck, a two strings of jewel teardrops connect the skin of the lower lip to shoulders on each side. 

Horns protrude from the serpent’s head, bending backwards and the tip curving up. Two smaller horns appear below the previous horns, heading the same direction. The webbed claws organize the precious pearls in sizes and shine. 

Shiny, blue scales decorte the sea serpent, not a sign of scars or misplaced scale. Perfection. Fins decorate the serpent’s back spine, a sheer blue color with a tint of white.

The sea serpent sings a lullaby, echoing through the underwater cave. The lullaby is enchanting and alluring, the perfect song for hunting prey. The serpent moves and stores the pearls in the fin pouches. The Great White Sharks wake up starting to move behind the sea serpent. The sea serpent glides through the water and quickly arrives at the shore with trees covering the entrance.

The Great Whites stay at the entrance while the sea serpent went onto shore. They crawl its way to the water tunnel. When the sea serpent got out of the tunnel, it arrived inside a cave, hidden by the waterfall. The serpent crawls towards the waterfall and their head goes through the curtain. 

A huge lake covered by mountains and jungle trees. A sandy shore with other serpents basking in the sun, small water dragons swimming and diving into the lake. Dragons perched on small cliffs, watching the younger ones enjoy themselves. 

On the other side of the waterfall, a huge mountain with an opening on the top lies a gray dragon, sleeping. The sea serpent dives into the lake, many small openings with dragons and serpents going in and out. Dragons eating tropical fish, seaweed, familiar limbs and mammals caught on land. Some shops selling prized jewels, pearls, and treasures of shrunken ships. 

A few dragons that notice the sea serpent bow down and continue doing what they were doing. When the Sea serpent arrives at the cave under the mountain, they enter inside and swim upwards until the temperature drops. Water turns into glacier and when the serpent reaches at the top, they slide onto ice. 

The cave is filled with glaciers and frost, few dragons living in cubbies on the wall. A few of the dragons pop their heads outside of the cubbies and chirp. The serpent slides on the ice until it reaches at the end of the cave with a huge arch. The arch was filled with icicles and jewels, nothing out of place.

The sea serpent enters and sees a dragon sleeping in a huge cubby on the wall. Jewels and pearls are piled onto a corner, next to the sleeping ice dragon.

**“Minseok, I’m back.”** The dragon, Minseok, stirs from his sleep. Minseok’s two layers of white wings with black claws spread out. 

His cloudy, blue scales shine with the ice and his belly scales start glowing. Minseok’s ear fins flutter and making sharp whistles, making the icicles shake from the ceiling. Two white, spiraling horns decorate the top of his head. Sharp icicles go down his spine all the way down to his tail, which separates into two sheer fins at the end.

His sky blue eyes stare straight at the serpent, pouch filled with shiny pearls. 

**“Did you bring me more pearls Junmyeon?”** The Ice dragon gets out of his cubby and walks toward Junmyeon who has his pouches filled with shiny pearls.

**“They all vary in sizes. There is a black one, small, but it's shiny black.”** Junmyeon takes out all the pearls from his pockets and sets them down in front of the light gray dragon.

**“You’re the best, you know that, but please be careful out there.”** Minseok takes all the pearls and put them on top of his growing pile of treasure. Junmyeon huffs and lays down on the icy floor. Minseok goes toward Junmyeon and rubs his cheeks on his.

Junmyeon sighs and looks up at Minseok. **“Mom had to go to meet with the other Kingdom rulers about Rogues. I can already imagine them criticizing her for every action she makes. I hate it, I really do. They don’t have to change locations every time a Rogue gets too close. Mom has to go out into the ocean so she can protect us and the other dragons from getting killed.”**

Junmyeon felt a wing cover him. **“It hurts a lot. We aren’t all violent but we need to or else we’ll die. We have some sadistic tendencies but that’s different. We used to be so non violent, it’s hard to even say a word about who we were before the entire thing.”** Minseok softly hums a tune.

**“I know that you're great with killing and all the fighting but I’m not, I can’t even defend myself without getting injured.”** Junmyeon huffs, done with his ranting.

**“You may not be the best fighter like I am but you’re very tactful and intelligent. You have qualities of a leader, just like your mother and I think that's better than having fighting skills. Pinpointing an opponent's weakness, knowing about formations and solving problems with quick solutions is something that not everyone has Junmyeon.”** Minseok sets his paws on the serpent’s head and lays it there. He gently strokes Junmyeon, hoping to calm the younger.

Quick steps and claws scratching on ice were getting closer to the two. A small green serpent looks appears and looks at Junmyeon. **“Your Highness is calling you two to the meeting room. She needs you two immediately.”**

Junmyeon and Minseok stare at each other quickly before getting up and following the small serpent. They slide on ice and dive into the water quickly; Junmyeon glides smoothly through the water while Minseok swims gracefully. 

Arriving in front of a huge cave with two guards, passing them without any trouble. Arriving at the Meeting room, they see the squire, Agua, talking with the Water Dragon through a projection. Agua sees the two male dragons and immediately calls them over. The swim toward the projection and see Junmyeon’s mother.

**“Honey, how are you?”**

**“I’m doing fine mom. Collecting pearls and talking to Minseok, the usual.”**

An eel swims toward the projector in the Water Queen’s body. A worried look crosses on her face. **“Junmyeon and Minseok, I have a huge favor to ask of both of you. You know about the chaos happening.”** They both nod. **“We decided to select a few of our dragons to unite with the other dragons and stop this whole mess.”**

Minseok gasps and stares at her. **“Auntie, you want Junmyeon and I to be your dragons?”** Junmyeon gasps at Minseok’s comment and stares at his mother. **“Mother, you can’t possibly believe that I can do this. Minseok, I agree but me? What do I have to offer?”**

Minseok smacks Junmyeon on the head. **“Don’t fucking degrade yourself infront of me.”**

**“Thank you Minseok for smacking him.”** Minseok sheepishly smiles. **“My son, you have my blood running in you. You have great leadership qualities and great intelligence. Minseok needs you and I need you.”**

Junmyeon looks at his mother and smiles. **“Thank you mom, you too Minseok. I needed to hear that.”**

**“Great, now that we had this conversation, you two didn’t answer my question.”** She looks at them, a Great White Shark swimming near her eye.

**“Yes, we’ll take your offer mother. We won’t disappoint you.”**

His mother laughs at him. **“I’m not worried that you’ll disappoint me, I’m worried about the other dragons. I did raise you two, so I know what I’m doing. I’m not so sure about the other dragons though.”** The two dragons laugh along. 

“ **You two might need to teach and care for the other dragons like true water dragons, got it. Show them that we’re not all violent, but please show them how to fight and protect themselves.”**

The Queen stares at Minseok, who stares back calmly. **“As far as I know, they don’t even teach them self defense. Minseok, I’m leaving that to you.”** He nods and says, **“Yes, Auntie.”**

**“Now that we have this all settled, tomorrow I’ll pick you up at the entrance to the ocean. I need to go now, fire dragons are so damn loud.”** She ends the call with the two dragons and squire laughing.

* * *

The two dragons were waiting outside with the Great Whites swimming around them. A baby White was swimming closely to Junmyeon and Minseok. 

**“Can we take him?”** Junmyeon looks at Minseok, who in return rolls his eyes.

**“Nope, they live in water and I assure you that most of our time is going to be on land.”** Junmyeon sighs and pats the baby shark’s head. A worried look passes his face.

**“Are we going to fly? I can’t fly.”** Minseok snorts at Junmyeon and shakes his head. **“I doubt it. It’s like saying we’re traveling underwater when none of them can swim.”** Junmyeon thinks for a moment and hums. **“I guess so.”**

A ripple in the water appears and a large dragon appears, Junmyeon’s mother. The baby shark gets closer to Minseok and hides under his wing. Minseok chuckles at this while Junmyeon greets his mom.

**“Mom, can you do your sea creature thing.”**

His mother tilts her head at her son. **”Sea Creature thing?”**

**“Yes, the one that makes it able to bring something in and out of water.”**

A look of realization crosses her features and then she smiles. **“For who?”** Minseok swims closer to the pair, bringing along the small shark. The shark peaks its head out of the wing and looks at the Water Dragon Queen. 

**“Hand him over, I’ll do it so he gets to join.”** Minseok passes him over to the Queen. A glue light was glowing around the shark before it was gone in a second. **“Done, now let’s leave. We need to meet the other dragons that you’re going to work with. I believe that you both can do it, I saw you grow up with my own eyes.”**

The dragons and the baby shark starts swimming after the Queen. They swam for a while until the temperature of the water got warmer.

The Queen looks at them and says, **“We’ve arrived at the Earth Kingdom, let’s go.”** They get out of the water and onto land, rich soil and muddy water started appearing after a few steps.

**“I don’t like this at all. It’s getting inside of my scales and claws. I need a bath.”** Minseok grumbles to himself and Junmyeon laughs at him, with the shark hanging out in his front pouch. The queen showers Minseok with water, getting rid of the mud.

**“Thank you. It would’ve been bothered the entire time.”** The queen quitely laughs at Minseok’s honest comment. 

They arrive at an appropriate sized lake, surrounded by boulders, trees and plain dirt. Four dragons were already there, talking amongst themselves. The big dragon, Orestes, notices them before the other three earth dragons.

**“Cascade, you made the trip quickly.”**

**“Well, swimming through the ocean isn’t a big problem than walking on land I suppose.”**

Orestes laughs at Cascade’s joke before turning stone faced. **“I’m deeply sorry for what Aella said, I know your situation is vastly different than ours.”**

**“It’s fine Orestes but I prefer if Aella said an apology or an understanding to me personally. I appreciate your concern, we appreciate it.”** She turns to the two male dragons beside her and a small shark gnawing on a bark of wood.

**“Let’s introduce ourselves when everyone arrives but please enjoy the lake. I hope it's to your liking.”** Orestes motions with his tail at the glistening lake behind him. 

Minseok and Junmyeon runs towards the lake and dive in. The baby shark swims around the lake and eating a few small fishes swimming around. Junmyeon and Minseok swim around the body of water at a quick speed. They stop when they notice their queen stepping inside beside them, settling down in the lake.

**“This is more than decent Orestes, thank you.”** The Earth King nods and walks toward the three earth dragons who were observing the scene before them. The water dragons were swimming gracefully and smoothly while Cascade watches the small shark swim around.

Footsteps coming closer, Minseok and Junmyeon stop swimming and look at the new arrivals. The smell of fire and ash came closer and Cascade sinks lower to the lake. Hacos and his two dragons, red and white, appear before the Water and Earth dragons.

**“Orestes, where is Aella and Cascade? I expected one of them to come before me?”** Hacos tilts his head and looks at the small shark swimming in the lake happily. 

The white dragon walks toward the lake and goes to take a drink but comes face to face with the Water Queen. The white dragon yelps and jumps back, running behind the red dragon.

**“Your dragon yelped, how pathetic.”** Cascade stands up to her full size and stares down at the two water dragons. She looks at Minseok and speaks softly at him. **“Minseok, I’m going to give you all the jewels and treasures you desire after we finish this disaster.”**

**“Cascade, you’re here! This is my son and you met his mate already.”** Hacos’s tail wacks the red and white dragon forward. They bow at the Queen and look at the two water dragons in the lake.

Cascade bends her neck down toward the fire dragons and smiles. **“You’re allowed to drink from this lake but you were about to lick me instead. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”** The white dragon shakes their head with a pink hue painting their cheeks.

The baby shark swims closer to the edge of the lake and grabs a bark from the ground. Orestes walks toward the dragons and exchanges words with Hacos. A moment into their conversation a huge gust of wind appears. 

Aella and three of her dragons appear from the sky. Cascade scoffs next to her son and Minseok. The wind dragons land and calmly walk towards the group. 

Orestes thumps on the ground and exclaims, **“Now that we’re all here, we can introduce our dragons.”** All dragons stare at the Earth King as he walks to his three dragons. 

He brings forward a dragon, body made of rock and moss. Pine wood barks are running down the dragons back all the way to the tail. The tail had sharp branches going in all directions. The dragon’s head had tree branches growing from their head, like antlers. 

**“This is my son Kyungsoo, definition of an Earth dragon.”** Kyungsoo bows his head and takes a step back.

A black dragon steps up, black, shining scales covering their body. Multiple horns on their head, from jaw to the top of the head like a crown. Bat-like wings, ripped and uneven, open up. Their spine is blank, no thorns, just sleek scales. Their tail, long and sleek like everything else. Gray eyes shine, a contrast between the pitch black body.

**“This is Jongin, my son’s mate. He’s great at navigating. The dragon next to him is Yixing, he comes from a family full of Healers.”** Yixing, was entirely made out of plants. The stems and leaves all wrapping around each other to make the shape of a dragon. Sharp thorns wrapping around the end of the tail. Roots forming a crown over Yixing’s head and trailing down his spine. Wings made entirely of moss and leaves with a few flower petals.

Yixing shyly smiles and bows at the other dragons. Orestes looks at Cascade, who is looking at the three dragons. **“Orestes, do any of your dragons know how to defend themselves.”**

A loud sigh can be heard from Aella. **“Did you really have to mention something with violence, not everyone knows how to kill like your type.”**

**“My type? MY TYPE! I would gladly like to see your three dragons fight a Rogue on their own and see them die because they can’t FUCKING defend themselves. I would like to see your face withering with realization that you caused that to happen.”**

The lake’s turning into a darker color until it turns blood red, actual blood. Junmyeon and Minseok quickly swim over and lay a comforting paw. **“Mom, relax. You turned the lake into a blood pool. Minseok’s here for a reason and everything is going to be fine, we’re going to be fine.”**

The lake turns back to its natural state, clear and glistening. Junmyeon turns toward the Air Queen and looks at her straight in the eye. **“I would like it if you keep yourself in check. I don’t like it when my mom’s stressed by a horrible comment. You disappoint me, I was excited to see who mother talks to but now I see why she doesn’t talk about you.”**

Silence fills the area, even the baby shark stops chewing on the bark. Minseok coughs and Cascade pats Junmyeon’s head. **“It’s alright Junmyeon, Minseok is here so you don’t have to worry.”** Junmyeon looks at Minseok, who’s holding the baby shark in his hands. Junmyeon nods at his mother and faces the Aella.

**“You’ll have to earn my respect if you want me to listen to you.”** Junmyeon swims away and towards Minseok and the shark. 

Cascade smiles and an eel starts swimming in her tail. **“As the attention is on us already, let me introduce my two favorite dragons. Junmyeon’s my son, the next heir of the throne. He’s a sea serpent and the one that scolded Aella.”** Junmyeon blushes and continues playing with the shark. **“Minseok, is a second son to me and best fighter out of all Water Dragons. He’s going to make sure that none of your dragons die. Their little friend, a baby Great White is tagging along.”**

The baby shark breaks the bark in half and goes to look for another one. The two water dragons bow at a perfect 90 degree angle. Orestes looks at the two young dragons and smiles at Cascade.

**“They do truly represent the Water Kingdom; Elegance, beauty and power.”**

**“Well, Orestes I did raise them. Junmyeon has the leadership qualities while Minseok has the power qualities.”**

Hacos jumps from his spot and tries to get closer to the lake without touching it. **“They’re so shiny.”**

**“Obviously my dragons are shiny. We take care of ourselves to look enchanting for our prey.”** Cascade flicks water at Hacos, making the Fire dragon take a step back. 

**“Let me introduce my dragons!”** Hacos turns toward his two dragons and wraps his flaming tail around them. 

**“My son Chanyeol!”** Chanyeol’s scales are blood red, golden scales running the underside of his neck and belly. Chanyeol’s eyes are burning orange, the same color as the fire down his spine and the end of his tail. Ashy red bat-like wings with fire hanging off the edges. Two long horns protrude from his head, going upwards like antlers.

**“This is my son’s mate, Baekhyun!”** Baekhyun’s a beautiful white dragon. A long snout with two sharp horns on top of his head. Yellow eyes and yellow claws glow against the white scales covering his body. Pure, white mane running down his neck and stopping at his shoulders. Clear, glass-like wings shine against the sunlight. His tail, from the base starts with white scales but transitions into glass at the end.

Cascade looks at the white dragon, and gets a closer look. **“Beautiful. Truly beautiful. Silky mane, shiny scales, and filed claws. Who taught you perfection?”**

**“Mom, you’re doing it again. What about Minseok?”** Cascade stops looking at Baekhyun and looks at Minseok. She grabs Minseok out of the water and hugs him.

**“Minseok is on another level of beauty, elegance and power. He has enchanting scales, moves elegantly and kills with such grace and power. I’m so proud that I raised him, what a proud Queen.”**

Minseok blushes and his scales starts to glow a pale blue color. Cascade doesn't let go of Minseok, so he decides to relax in the dragon’s arms.

**“This leaves me to introduce my three dragons.”** Three dragons step forwards and bow gently. **“This is my son, Sehun.”**

Sehun’s scales are an ashy gray while his underbelly is cream white with outstanding sky blue eyes. He has two horns poking out and medium length mane growing on his neck. White claws on his paws and a long tail. He has feathered wings, white feathers all layers and covering his entire body.

**“His mate, Luhan, is the one next to him.”** Luhan, is almost like Junmyeon, except that he floats without any wings. Luhan’s golden scales shine in the sunlight, with onyx green eyes. His claws, black, are short and round, not exactly sharp. No horns, no fancy details. Simple yet beautiful.

**“Lastly, we have Jongdae.”** Jongdae’s pitch black, with a gray undertone. His scales don’t shine, they’re matte. He had frills expand on top of his head like a mohawk, matte black. His wings weren’t outlined by bones and scales, but cartilage and skin. His yellow eyes are the only other color that glows against his black body. His tail wasn’t as long as the other dragon’s but it was moderately sized. No decorated other than the frills on top of his head. He looks pretty boring and not all that fascinating as the other dragons.

Orestes looks at all the dragons and thumps his tail onto the earth. **“Should we explain why we chose these specific dragons and why they’ll help. I think it’ll help everyone if we explain.”** The kings and Queens nod in agreement. **“Cascade, why don’t you go first?”**

Cascade looks at the dragon in her arms. **“I’ve known Minseok before Jumyeon came along. I’ve seen him grow and know that he has huge potential in fighting. He has the most killings after me so I asked him to come along to teach your dragons how to defend themselves.”** She grabs Junmyeon and settles him in her arms with Minseok. **“Junmyeon has great leadership qualities. He’s very informed in fighting formations and quick solving skills.”**

Cascade picks up the baby shark. **“This little one is accompanying them.”** The baby shark tries to bite the Queen’s claws but ends up wet.

Aella looks at Cascade with a frown. **“What if we don’t want our dragons to learn how to fight?”**

**“Then you shouldn’t be surprised if your dragons don’t come back.”** Minseok speaks up. Everyone stares at him. **“As far as I know, none of you have ever fought a Rogue before. Highness didn’t say that I'll be teaching them how to fight, she said I'll be teaching them how to defend themselves.”**

Hacos looks at Cascade in shock. **“He just talked back.”**

**“We water dragons take no bullshit from other dragons. So we’re deeply sorry if we’re being completely honest.”** All three water dragons smile at Hacos, even the baby shark smiles.

Orestes coughs, gaining the attention of everyone. **“I’ll go next. Kyungsoo is great with the terrain, he can sense danger when it’s near, which can help the group. Jongin is great at navigating, as I mentioned before. He can tell which direction and time with the terrain. Yixing is a healer, he can fix any injury or illness.”**

Cascade whispers under her breath, **“They’ll definitely need Yixing.”** Minseok snorts at his aunt and Junmyeon shakes his head. Junmyeon slips out of his mother’s arms and goes to grab the baby shark. The baby shark eyes were slowly shutting, so he puts them in his pouch.

**“I’m going next!”** Hacos jumps from his spot and accidently shoots small flames. I flame hits Minseok, but he barely flinched or noticed. Some of the other dragons, especially Chanyeol looks at Minseok with his eyes wide open. They don’t say anything but Junmyeon sees this and laughs quietly.

**“Baekhyun can provide a source of light in the dark, so they won’t have to walk in the dark. Chanyeol can keep the group warm at night, as it usually gets cold. They’re great support systems to the group and can provide entertainment.”**

**“This isn’t a joke Hacos.”** Aella looks at Hacos with a stern glare. Hacos shrinks back and Cascade notices the two fire dragons hide behind Hacos’s flames.

**“It’d be pretty boring if it was all silent, wouldn’t it?”** Cascade looks at Hacos with a smile. Hacos nods his head and the two fire dragons look at the Fire King.

**“Cascade, don’t try to indulge his childness.”** Aella growls at the Water Queen, which results in a growl back.

Cascade looks at the Air Queen and asks, **“Do you need help taking that stick out your ass?”** Chanyeol snorts fire out of his nose while Junmyeon slaps a webbed paw on his forehead.

Aella looks at Cascade. **“Excuse me? Do you need me to show you your place?** Cascade smiles, razor sharp teeth shining. **“I would gladly like to show you your own place, I’d enjoy tearing you apart.”** Minseok, who’s still in the Water Queen’s arms, looks at the commotion and widens his eyes.

**“Let’s not fight. Your highness, if you fight her, your going to be at her level. We don’t want that, do we?”** Cascade huffs and settles back down. She still glares at Aella, holding Minseok closer to her. 

**“I’ll introduce mine as I’m the only one left. Sehun is great at telling the weather and predicting it. Luhan is great at protecting himself and others.”** Aella looks at Cascade quickly before focusing her attention back. **“Jongdae is here because Luhan wouldn’t come without him.”**

Jongdae looks at the ground, taking an interest in his claws instead of Aella’s words. He can feel the stares from the other dragons and he isn’t that surprised. He usually gets stares because of his appearance, but he’s grown immune to it at this point.

Junmyeon looks at Minseok, they both had their mouth hung wide open at the Air Dragon’s comment. Minseok notices that Kyungsoo had his jaw dropped to the floor too. Minseok feels the Water dragon grow angry, water secretly boiling.

Cascade looks at both of her dragons and shakes her head. She obviously didn’t like the other dragon.

Orestes looks at the dragons and speaks. **“Now that we have the introductions all done, we can rest and enjoy the rest of the day. It must’ve been a long journey all the way here.”** A few nods are sent to his direction. **“Tomorrow morning we’re going to discuss about the plan. Please, do what you need to do to feel welcomed.”**

The dragons all dispersed in their own area, leaving the water dragons in the lake.

**“I can see why you don’t like her.”** Minseok shakes his head and furrows his eyebrows. **“You simply don’t say that.”** He thrashes his tail and growls.

**“I agree with you dear, but it’s her dragon and we can’t do anything about it.”** Junmyeon huffs at his mother’s comment. Cascade lays Minseok down in the lake and stand up. **“I’ll get us some fish from the sea. I’ll be back in a bit.”**

Junmyeon and Minseok look at each other and laugh. The baby Shark looks at the two dragons laughing. Minseok looks down at the shark and pets it. **“We should give them a name.”**

Junmyeon looks at the shark and hums. **“What should we call them?”**

**“Bubbles?”**

Junmyeon laughs at Minseok and nods. **“I love that. Bubbles it is.”**

Bubbles starts swimming happily around the lake until it looks behind the two dragons. Behind them is Yixing, looking at them beside a bush. Junmyeon smiles at him and Yixing smiles back.

**“Hello.”**

Yixing smiles softly. **“Hello.”**

Minseok stares at the two dragons. A sly smile spreading on his lips. He swims toward the two and pulls Junmyeon’s horns. This made Junmyeon make a weird gurgling yelp.

**“Hello, I’m Minseok. It’s nice to meet you.”**

**“You are enchanting.”** Yixing blushes, realizes what he said and stutters an apology **.**

**“You can look all you want, it’s great at catching prey if you know what I mean.”** Minseok smirks and Junmyeon tries to push Minseok away from Yixing. If he wants to make friends, he doesn’t need Minseok to intimidate them.

**“I like you two. I don’t understand why they tell me to be careful?”** Junmyeon and Minseok stare at Yixing, who’s unaware of the comment he made. **“They say that you guys are very scary but I don’t think that.”**

Minseok looks at Yixing and says, **“We must protect you at all costs.”**

Yixing blushes at Minseok’s comment. **“Thank you. I don’t really like fighting, but I can take care of dragons.”**

Minseok squeals at Yixing and drags him into the water. Yixing was soaked from head to claw and he wasn’t drowning. He looks at the arms holding him, Minseok holding him tightly while squealing like a little child with a new toy.

**“You’re so adorable and soft. Junmyeon, isn’t he cute and soft?”** Minseok looks at Junmyeon, who’s wearing a panicked face. Yixing is laughing as he’s floating in the water.

**“I’ve never been in the water.”**

Junmyeon looks at Yixing and tilts his head. **“Why? Doesn’t it feel great?”**

Yixing nods. **“It does but I can’t swim, I’ll just sink. My body isn’t made to swim in water like yours.”**

**“If you ever want to ‘swim’, just tell us and we’ll hold you.”** Minseok says and Junmyeon nods along. Yixing giggles and looks at the tiny shark in Junmyeon’s pouch.

**“The baby shark is so cute. What’s their name?”** Junmyeon looks at Bubbles, who’s sleeping.

**“Bubbles. They’re currently sleepy.”** Junmyeon whispers while looking down at Bubbles.

Minseok’s ear-fins starts vibrating, which Yixing stares at. The fins start vibrating faster as footsteps approach them. Minseok turns his head towards the small patch of sand near the lake. Baekhyun stands there, awkward, as he tries to walk closer.

**“Hey... am I interrupting?”** Junmyeon shakes his head as all three of them swim closer to the sand. Yixing gets out of the lake as well as Junmyeon and Minseok. Baekhyun and Yixing stare at the two water dragons in awe.

**“Wow, they weren’t joking when they said water dragons are very attractive.”** Yixing bobs his head, eyes not leaving Junmyeon. Minseok sees this and smirks and starts walking gracefully to a boulder under the shade. Baekhyun stares at Minseok as he walks, light footsteps and stance shown with power. Junmyeon slithers to the shade near Minseok.

**“Genetics.”** Minseok says plainly, ice blue eyes staring at Baekhyun. Baekhyun walks closer to the two water dragons and sits. Yixing follows him and they’re all sitting under the shade.

**“Let’s get to know each other. We’re going to defeat evil together, might as well prepare ourselves.”** Baekhyun looks at the three dragons. Junmyeon looks at Minseok, who’s already asleep.

**“Well, Minseok’s sleeping so we might exclude him from the conversation.”**

**“That’s fine...Junmyeon, right?”** Junmyeon nods at Baekhyun, who’s smiling widely.

**“I’ve always wondered what the Water Kingdom is like. Tell me about it.”** Junmyeon looks at Baekhyun and smiles.

**“It’s really secluded. There’s multiple tunnels and we have Great White sharks and Eels guarding the tunnels. We’re surrounded by mountains and trees. We mostly live under the lake because most dragons except water, can’t swim. Most of us live in caves, waterfalls, and in the lake. We have grand tournaments where the best fighting dragons go against each other to win the title as the best fighter and win a prized jewel from my mother’s hoard. Minseok has won for 3 years straight after coming of age, won the Shining Sea, Crystal Coral and Lunar Lake.”**

Baekhgyun and Yixing, with their mouths hung open, look at the sleeping dragon. Minseok doesn’t have a scar on his body. Yixing tilts his head as he looks at Junmyeon.

**“What’s the Shining Sea, Crystal Coral and Lunar Lake?”**

**“It's treasures found by my mother when she was younger. Those are prized possessions from all over the world. She keeps them in her vault inside our home, only Minseok and I entered inside it other than my mom.”**

Baekhyun stares at Junmyeon. **“So you’re rich, like royalty rich.”** Junmyeon nods his head shyly. Yixing looks at Junmyeon and smiles. The sea serpent notices and smiles back. Baekhyun looks at the two and then silently laughs. 

A tree branch snaps and the three dragons look over. Cascade has a whole pile of fish wrapped around palm leaves. Junmyeon crawls over and tries to help his mother with the pouch.

**“I brought enough fish for us, but I didn’t expect two guests with us? I think we have enough for them.”** Cascade looks at the two dragons staring at her.

**“It’s okay, your highness. I don’t eat fish or meat of any sort.”** Yixing speaks to the Water Queen. Baekhyun walks over and looks at the huge fish. He looks up at the queen and down at the fish.

**“Can I have some?”** Cascade laughs and nods her head. She heads over to the sleeping dragon and wakes him up. 

**“Minseok, I brought fish to eat for dinner.”** Minseok stirs, his scales shining and his fins spreading out. Opening his eyes and he sees the water queen next to him.

**“Auntie?”** Baekhyun and Yixing eyes widen while Junmyeon laughs. 

**“I brought food.”** Minseok wakes up and looks at the enormous pile of huge fish. He hums and stretches, his scales shining and his fins fluttering. He walks over to the pile and takes a fish.

Baekhyun, Junmyeon, Bubble and Minseok eat while Yixing eats fruit. Footsteps appear and Cascade looks over and sees Hacos and Chanyeol. Chanyeol looks at Baekhyun, who’s sitting in between the two water dragons, eating fish. Baekhyun didn’t notice his mate and gave his left overs to Minseok, who takes it gladly.

Chanyeol, with his mouth hanging open, marches forward and tries to make himself noticeable. Baekhyun lifts his head and looks at his mate. Baekhyun smiles and offers him a piece of fish.

**“Want some? They taste amazing. Never had fish before but it’s really good.”** Chanyeol takes a whiff of the fish and scrunches up his nose.

**“It’s wet.”**

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. **“Obviously, they came from the sea.”** Junmyeon stares at the scene while munching a fish’s head. Minseok looks between the two, and occasionally looking at the Fire King. Yixing, oblivious at the scene, continues eating his fruit.

**“They’re squishy though.”** Chanyeol pokes a fish, seeing his finger bounce back at the cold piece of meat. 

Baekhyun growls at Chanyeol, making him immediately stiffen. Minseok and Junmyeon stare with wide eyes and looking at each other. 

**“If you don’t like it, leave it. If you don’t like it wet and squishy, fry it but don’t be a jerk in front of them. They offered food so either you appreciate it or you starve.”**

Chanyeol immediately bows his head at Baekhyun and fries his fish. Cascade looks at Hacos with a raised eyebrow. Hacos smiles sheepishly and walks over to Cascade.

**“Baekhyun is older than Chanyeol by a couple of months. Baekhyun usually keeps Chanyeol in check and makes sure that he doesn’t do anything stupid. Like father, like son they say.”** They both stare at Chanyeol, who’s conversing with the other dragons while frying some fish for himself. **“Baekhyun is good for him and I entirely supported him when he wanted a male mate.”** Cascade hums and Hacos and looks at her two water dragons. Fire Dragons are very open about same sex mates, same with Air Dragons. It’s nice to know that Hacos accepts his son’s mate.

**“It’s hard for us you know. We mate for life and can’t take back what we actually done. Minseok and Junmyeon have it harder, they’re my babies. Minseok, not biologically but I raised him as my own.”**

Hacos stares at Cascade and looks at the two water dragons splashing water at Baekhyun, who looks offended. **“They’ll find someone, I mean, you raised them.”**

**“And look at me now. I don’t want them to make the same mistakes as I did. You know what happened and we don’t want the same exact thing to happen.”**

**“They’re smart enough to not do what you did Cascade. I mean, Junmyeon looks like he’ll make a great mate. Minseok looks like a no bullshit person.”**

**“I’ll take that as a compliment but do you know how many dragons go up to Minseok? A shit ton, especially with his reputation and status. He needs someone who’ll love him and appreciate him for who he is, not someone who’s looking for a beautiful and powerful dragon mate.”**

**“I think he’ll find someone like that, he looks like he won’t settle for anyone less.”**

Cascade and Hacos laugh and they stare at Junmyeon, who’s feeding Bubbles small pieces of raw fish. Yixing is looking at Bubbles who chews sloppily and wipes his mouth with a leaf. 

Hacos looks at Cascade and smiles. **“Don’t worry, they’ll find someone.”**

* * *

This is the author, I know that some of you have your own imaginations and can imagine how each dragon looks like, but people like some of my friends, can't do that and need some sort of picture. So if any of you are wondering what the characters look like, I'll show them here.

**Water** **Dragons:**

**Minseok**

****

**Junmyeon**

****

**Fire** **Dragons:**

**Chanyeol**

****

**Baekhyun**

****

**Wind Dragons:**

**Sehun**

****

**Luhan:** I literally couldn't find something that I liked so I had to use my imagination on this one, but the closest thing is a Traditional Chinese Dragon.

**Jongdae**

****

**Earth Dragons:**

**Kyungsoo**

****

**Yixing**

**Jongin**

****


	2. Everything that's gorgeous

The sun’s rising and Junmyeon blinks open his eyes. He doesn’t find the warmth of Minseok beside him, alarmed, he starts looking around frantically. He catches Minseok on the sand eating the leftover fish from yesterday. He swims toward the older and rubs their head against each other.

**“How’d you sleep?”** Junmyeon asks. Knowing that Minseok’s body temperature is low and he needs to maintain the temperature.

**“Fine, a little warm but not too bad. Is Auntie still sleeping?”** Junmyeon nods and takes a bite of fish. He looks Minseok who’s quietly munching.

**“Do you think that we’ll make it to the end? You know, after this entire mess?”** Minseok stares at Junmyeon for a moment and sighs. 

**“Junmyeon, I can’t assure you that everything's going to be fine but I can assure you that we’re going to try our best.”** Minseok’s ear fins start vibrating, creating a soft sound. Junmyeon joins and adds a soothing hum, creating a calming effect. Junmyeon’s jewel teardrops hanging from his mouth to shoulder, start glowing. Their tails intertwine and continue eating until Junmyeon’s mother walks on shore with Bubbles trailing after her. 

**“I heard your harmony and it woke me up.”** She joins in with a slow sounds of waves. They stay like that, harmonizing and eating, not noticing the other dragons appearing at the lake and listening to them. Minseok stops vibrating his ear fins and turns to look at the dragons watching them. The harmonization stops. 

Cascade gets up from her spot and looks at them. **“Are we going to discuss about the mission?”** Orestes nods and walks closer to them. 

**“If you don’t mind me asking, what was that?”** He asks. 

Cascade hums; a seahorse is floating in her left leg.  **“We were harmonizing or what you guys call ‘talking’. We each have a sound and that’s how we differentiate with each other.”**

**“I thought it was music.”** Haco says. 

**“It is, but we call it harmonizing because we’re communicating through sound and feeling.”**

Haco nods and everyone forms a circle. The dragons in the middle while their King or Queen behind them. 

Orestes looks at Cascade. **“You three are the ones with the most experience in this field, do you guys have any plans?”**

**“Well, we have gained some information about where the rogues might be located. They’re probably in the Jungle of Emerald if the dragon was correct.”**

Aella looks at Cascade before saying,  **“And you believe them?”**

**“I think you forget that dragons can’t lie when talking directly at me. This dragon escaped and the scars on their body tells more truth than words.”** Junmyeon shivers at the memory of the poor dragon they found near their kingdom.

**“Where are they and do you know which kingdom they’re from?”** Haco asks. 

**“They’re in our care currently. They’re from the Air Kingdom”**

**“Why didn’t they come to us?”** Aella questions.

**“They ripped off their wings, bones and all.”** Yixing gasps with a few other dragons.

**“They need rest and they’re getting that with our best healers. Now, this is what the mission is going to be.”** All the dragons stare at Cascade. **“Junmyeon and I have formed a plan on how we’re going to execute this. Of course, you can put your inputs in this too.”**

Junmyeon clears his throat. **“We’ll head to the Jungle of Emerald. We’re not entirely sure if that’s where their headquarters are located but it may be possible that’s where they keep the captured dragons.”**

Kyungsoo tilts his head and says, **“What if it’s a trap?”**

Minseok shakes his head.  **“Air dragons pride themselves of their wings, without it, they mostly feel empty. I doubt this dragon would go through the pain to just set a trap.”** Luhan agrees when Kyungsoo turns his head towards him.

Junmyeon continues.  **“If that’s where they hold the captured dragons, we let them out and get help. With Yixing’s healing, he can put them in good shape, enough to head to safety.”** Yixing nodded with a smile on his face.

**“What if there’s Rogues protecting the area? If that’s where they keep them, then it needs to be protected.”** Baekhyun’s voices.

**“This is why I’m here.”** Minseok says. **“You don’t want to fight, fine but at least you need to know how to defend yourself and others when attacked. We also made a formation, if the situation arises.”** Baekhyun sighs and relaxes. 

Junmyeon continues. **“If it's headquarters, we send a group back so send the message. The other group will investigate around it, we don’t want to endanger ourselves.”** Cascade nods and continues on where Junmyeon left off. **“In case one of you gets caught, the main priority is getting that dragon back. You guys** **_are one_** **from this point on and no dragon will get left behind until they’re dead. Understand?”**

The dragons all nods while looking at Cascade and the water dragons in awe. They emitted a sort of superior aura, one that commands respect. Their stance is perfect, they hold themselves up respectfully. They also have a moral code, no one gets left behind until death. Jongdae stares at them, admiring the raw power they hold.

Junmyeon smiles.  **“Any questions, suggestions?”**

**“How are we getting there?”**

**“You’re travelling on land, as a majority of you can walk. Air dragons can fly, but Junmyeon and kyungsoo can’t fly. Water dragons can swim but all of you can’t. It’s that simple.”** Orestes says, answering Chanyeol’s question.

**“We’re leaving today, correct?”** Yixing wonders and Haco nods at the young dragon.

**“You’re leaving after breakfast, ready to go energized.”** He says. The dragons nod all at once and disperse. Baekhyun walks near Minseok and Junmyeon and sits next to them.

**“You guys were so cool when you get so serious.”** Junmyeon blushes while Minseok laughs. 

Minseok gets a fish from the pile and hands it over to Baekhyun, who takes it gladly.  **“Well yeah, if we weren’t so serious then you wouldn’t take us seriously.”**

**“It looks like it wasn’t your first time doing this thing though.”** Junmyeon nods and grabs a piece of fish.  **“We grew up in a kingdom where if you’re a royal, you need to command respect and attention automatically. We have those tournaments I told you about, to acknowledge the winner and that he can command respect. Minseok has won the tournament for three years straight. His position is pretty high up there, especially when he’s a royal.”**

Baekhyun furrows his brows and looks at Minseok, feeding bubbles small pieces of fish.  **“He’s a royal, so that must mean you’re related then.”**

Junmyeon shakes his head. **“Somewhat, he’s a royal but it’s because his family was part of the royal guards and my mother decided to take him in and raise him as one of her own.”**

**“My parents died while protecting the Kingdom from Rogues, Junmyeon wasn’t born yet and I was a hatchling. I like calling her auntie than mother, it kinda sounds weird after my mothers died.”** Minseok mentions casually. He offers another piece of fish to Baekhyun.

“ **Mothers? So you had two moms?”** Minseok nods. Baekhyun’s mouth drops and immediately closing it.  **“Wait, is it natural for you to mention that though?.”**

Minseok and Junmyeon’s face tilt sideways **. “There’s multiple mates in the water kingdom that are homosexual. Why is that something unnatural?”**

**“The fire kingdom finds that as a sin of some sort.”** Junmyeon chokes on his fish and looks at Baekhyun in bewilderment.  **“You’re kidding, right?”** Baekhyun shakes his head. Junmyeon hears something from afar and hums at Minseok. Minseok nods his head at Junmyeon, signaling him to go. Junmyeon goes toward the forest, leaving Baekhyun and Minseok with Bubbles and a pile of fish.

**“Us water dragons don’t care about our sexuality or who were mating with. If that mate can reach up to the standards we set up, then it doesn’t matter whether your mate is male or female. We water dragons only mate once, knowing that information, we have high standards and if we find the right one, everything else doesn’t matter.”** Minseok tucks Bubbles inside of his wing. Baekhyun stares at Bubbles, who’s nipping at a claw.

**“We don’t care if that dragon is from another kingdom, comes from a higher or lower class, older or younger. When you find that mate, you’ll feel connected on an emotional level. To some, it takes a while to find but for others, it comes very quickly.”**

Minseok stares at Baekhyun, who looks like he’s about to cry. Panicking he crawls closer to the younger.  **“What’s wrong, did I say something wrong?”** Baekhyun laughs and sniffs a little. 

**“It’s really hard to be accepted in the fire kingdom just because I like a male dragon. I got disowned by my own family just because I wanted to date Chanyeol. No one really told me that I was normal or wasn’t weird. It feels really nice to hear that from someone.”** Minseok coos and wraps his wing over the other dragon.

**“You ever need to talk to someone, Junmyeon and I are here. Of course, Chanyeol is too but I don’t think you want Chanyeol to know about some of the relationship issues yet.”** Baekhyun nods and snuggles closer.

**“You give off a very comforting mother vibe. I wonder why you haven’t found your mate yet.”** Minseok laughs and stares at the younger. 

**“Mostly because some of the dragons want me as a trophy wife; someone who’s submissive and ready to bear children. I’m not really excited about that. I want someone who’ll love me for me, not because I’m very pleasing to the eyes or because I’m very good at fighting that I’m willing to protect them. I want an equal, maybe not good at fighting, but maybe they care for my well-being. They may not be the most beautiful but if they have a beautiful personality, they’re already up there. I’m very picky, if you haven’t noticed.”** Baekhyun looks at Minseok and smiles. The fire dragon snuggles closer and pets Bubble’s head. 

They both hear footsteps and see Jongin walking closer. He looks at the pile of fish in front of them and carefully walks closer. Baekhyun pokes his head out of Minseok’s wing and shouts at Jongin.

**“Hey Jongin, want fish?”** Jongin jumps high in the air in alarm and looks at Baekhyun with a glare. He walks closer and sits across from them. 

**“What are you guys doing?”**

**“Wisdom from a Water Dragon. Therapy Sessions. Talking about my problems. Letting my thoughts fly. Whatever you call it. I’m relaxing with Minseok here. What are you doing here?”** Baekhyun questions, which makes him receive a painless slap from Minseok.

**“Be kind.”** Minseok turns toward Jongin and smiles.  **“Do you need anything?”** Jongin shakes his head, doodling in the sand.

**“I just wanted to talk to someone. I was bored and I also thought that it would be a great opportunity to get to know each other better.”** Minseok and Baekhyun laugh and Baekhyun motions toward Minseok’s other wing.

**“Just get under Minseok’s wing and then we’ll talk. Bubbles likes to chomp on wood and cuddle.”** He says. Jongin shyly crawls under Minseok’s other wing and gets comfortable.

**“This is nice.”** Jongin says.

**“It is.”**

**“Am I a mother now?”**

Baekhyun shakes his head. “ **Junmyeon is the mother, you're the father of some sort. Not really here for incest.”** Jongin laughs and twirls his tail with Minseok’s. Baekhyun joins in and entangles his tail with the other two. They stay like that for a while, talking about nonsense and their childhood.

Cascade appears and watches the two dragons snuggling against Minseok. She smiles and walks closer to them.  **“Well don’t you look comfortable.”** Jongin jumps a little and looks up at the Water Queen. He bows his head and snuggles a little closer to Minseok.

Footsteps follow behind Cascade and a few dragons appear. The fire dragons, Junmyeon and the air dragons. Chanyeol’s mouth drops while Haco laughs. Junmyeon shakes his head in disbelief. 

**“Be careful son, you don’t want a water dragon charming your mate.”** Chanyeol looks at his father with a confused face and looks at Junmyeon. 

Junmyeon shakes his head and sighs.  **“Minseok, really.”**

Minseok smiles and and brings the two dragons closer. Cascade laughs and faces Chanyeol.  **“Minseok has that effect, it’s nothing you should worry about.”**

Chanyeol walks closer to the trio and Junmyeon tries to stop him.  **“Chanyeol you shouldn’t do that.”** Chanyeol turns and glares at Junmyeon.  **“Why?”** Chanyeol ignores Junmyeon and walks towards them.

Luhan turns to Junmyeon and asks,  **“This isn’t going to go well, is it?”** Junmyeon just shakes his head and sighs.

When Chanyeol gets close enough, Minseok growls and his ear fins starts ringing. Sky blue eyes stare straight at Chanyeol, bringing the two dragons closer to him. His underbelly starts to emit a white glow. Spikes emerged from his spine and the temperature around lowers.

Cascade turns toward Haco and smiles.  **“You better get your son if you don’t want a fight to break out.”**

Aella looks at Cascade and frowns. Luhan and Jongdae walks closer to Junmyeon, trying to look at the scene. Aella looks at this and glares at Cascade.

Chanyeol walks closer and glares at Minseok.  **“If you think I’ll be intimidated by you, think again.”** Minseok glares straight at Chanyeol and when Chanyeol stares back, his body froze. He couldn’t move and his flames were decreasing. 

Haco picks Chanyeol up with his tail and walks away from the trio. Chanyeol’s flames stops flickering and his body starts to feel again.

Cascade turns toward Chanyeol and looks at him.  **“Minseok is in protective mode right now. He won’t hesitate to harm you or anyone else.”**

Luhan turns to Cascade and asks,  **“Like a mother dragon with their newborn?”** Cascade nods and looks at Minseok, who’s chiming a song to the two dragons.  **“Especially when they’re younger. He sees them as dragons unable to defend themselves.”**

Junmyeon shakes his head **. “You don’t even know how many times I’ve been in that situation.”** He looks at Chanyeol.  **“Don’t be offended, be at least happy that your mate has found someone they can trust and be friends with.”**

Aella looks at Cascade and snarls.  **“He almost attacked Chanyeol when he wanted to get near them.”**

**“It’s because he took an aggressive approach. If he took a calmer or gentler approach, I assure you he wouldn’t be that aggressive. Us Water Dragons get very protective towards dragons we consider family or friends.”**

Jongdae upon hearing this decides to approach the trio. Luhan, who noticed this tries to stop Jongdae but couldn’t catch up.

**“Minseok’s going to have a family, mother.”** Cascade laughs and wraps her wings around Junmyeon.

Jongdae approaches crouched down. He takes his time, his neck and tail lowered and his wings tucked away. Jongin notices this and peaks his head out of Mineok’s wing. Baekhyun does the same but with Bubbles in between his front legs.

**“Hi, I’m Jongdae.”** He whispers and Baekhyun coos. Baekhyun walks a little further and Minseok blankly stares at Jongdae. Minseok isn’t taking a defensive or offensive stance, which must be a good thing.

**“Wanna join us, it’s pretty comfy in here.”** Baekhyun stares up at Minseok. He adjusts his position, spreading his wings a little wider. Jongdae crawls a little closer until he’s tucked in between Minseok and Baekhyun’s side. 

Jongdae feels Minseok’s hard scales against his and he blanks out. Minseok snuggles the three dragons closer to him. Cascade laughs Luhan looks at the scene with his eyes wide. His mother in law won’t be too happy about this. He looks behind him and sees her seething. He looks forward again and stares at Junmyeon who’s laughing silently with his mother.

Junmyeon walks calmly to the group and sit in front of Minseok.  **“Minseok, you may be comfortable but someone’s jealous that their mate isn’t with them at the moment.”** Baekhyun looks at Junmyeon and says loudly. 

**“Tell him that he can wait a little longer, I just met my new friends.”** Cascade laughs even louder at Chanyeol’s face full of bewilderment.

Aella looks at Cascade and growls. **“What’s so funny about this?”**

Cascade stops laughing at smiles at Aella.  **“I think you forget that there’s four dragons and each one is from a different Kingdom. They’re enjoying themselves before they leave, so let them relax.”**

She looks at Cascade while dragging Luhan closer to her by the tail. Luhan yelps as he’s dragged to her side.  **“Why are you so relaxed about this situation? Why is your dragon getting comfy with the others, especially when the other dragons are mated? Is he a seducer?”**

Cascade’s smile drops and the whole area turns quiet. Every single dragon stares in shock, except Minseok’s laughing.

Cascade’s frown turns into a smile and start laughing with Minseok. The dragons stares at them in wonder before Junmyeon laughs a little as well. 

Minseok looks straight at the Air Queen and smiles menacingly at her.  **“I wouldn’t stoop down at that level. I’m not as disgusting as someone I know.”** He goes back to snuggling the three dragons under his wings. **“They’re comfortable here, if it bothers them then they wouldn’t be here.”**

Aella looks at Minseok in shock before turning to Cascade. The Water Dragon has a genuine smile on her lips.

Junmyeon looks straight at Aella and smiles.  **“It’s very disgusting when someone says something like that to another dragon when they haven’t even talked to them before.”**

Hacos looks between the two and brings Chanyeol closer to him. He quietly lowers himself and whispers to Chanyeol, **“Don’t get on their bad side son, they’re terrifying. We’re lucky that a full on fight hasn’t happened.”** Chanyeol nods at his father and turns to look at Baekhyun, who’s talking quietly to Jongdae. 

Jongdae panicked each time Baekhyun keeps pushing him closer to Minseok. He can feel each scale and muscle against his own and it takes everything in him not to whine out embarrassingly. 

Minseok’s ear fins flutter and move towards his right. A moment later, the earth dragons appear. 

Orestes shakes his head slowly and settles down next to Hacos.  **“Since we’re all here, are we ready to say goodbye?”**

They dragons nodded and the little group that were cuddled together separated and went to their respective Kingdoms, except Jongdae. He just stayed there and watched the dragons move. Junmyeon saw this and walks over to Jongdae.  **“Come with us, you can hold Bubbles.”**

Jongdae walks with Junmyeon while holding Bubbles. He can feel the stares of his queen but he ignores it. Reaching the Water dragons, he sees Cascade bring Minseok into a long hug and praising him. When the two water dragons break apart, Cascade brings Junmyeon into a huge hug as well. The water queen gives him pecks and rubs her head against his.

He awkwardly stands there until the Water Queen notices him and Bubbles. She smiles at him and gives him a hug, surprising him.  **“I wish you the best of luck. Minseok and Junmyeon will take good care of you, so don’t worry.”** He nods and smiles back. He hears her whisper something to him, making a genuine smile appear on his face.

**“Don’t pay attention to anyone who doesn’t believe in you. You’re wonderful and beautiful in your own way.”** She puts him down and smiles at the three dragons.

Hacos stares at his two dragons.  **“I wish you guys the best of luck. Try to make memories with everyone, even though it’s not the best occasion.”** He looks at them and smiles.  **“Please don’t fight, I know that you both have fiery nature. Chanyeol, keep it down low while Baekhyun, please don’t tempt him.”** They both nod and go in for a hug.

Orestes looks at his three dragons and smiles a little.  **“I hope that you guys can safely lead them to the Jungle of Emerald. I want to celebrate when you guys come back. Please be safe out there and don’t make me worry, I still need to rule this Kingdom.”** He says to Kyungsoo and looks at Jongin. 

**“You need to keep him and Yixing safe.”** Jongin gives a firm nod.

He turns to Yixing. **“You need to take care of everyone but most importantly, yourself. You can’t help anyone if you can’t help yourself.”**

They all come together to give a hug. A silent goodbye, without any words.

The air dragons were talking to each other. The air was tense around them as the Queen was hurricane taking shape as a dragon.

She turns to Luhan and a huge hush of wind pushes him.  **“You take care of your friend, we don’t want to be a burden and for them to think horribly of us.”** Luhan bows in agreement.

Aella turns to Sehun and bends down to him, so she can whisper into his ear.  **“Make sure not to embarrass us. Keep your ‘mate’ in check. I don’t care about the other one.”** Sehun nods slowly while staring at the ground.  **“I didn’t hear you?”**

**“Yes, mother. I understand.”**

**“Good.”**

**^^^**

When all the dragons said their goodbyes, they began walking into a small pathway that a small fairy was leading. A few fairies are watching them as they walked deeper into the forest. Junmyeon was staring at them in wonder while Bubbles was trying to eat them.

**“No Bubbles, you can’t eat them.”** Minseok and laughs. 

**“Bubbles might be the first Baby White that’s been on land. I bet their mother’s jealous. Her baby is going to be a hero, how cute.”** Junmyeon passes Bubbles onto Minseok. Minseok takes Bubbles and cuddles with him. He puts him between his wings and slowly pulling the shark to sleep.

**“You must be good with hatchlings.”**

Minseok turns toward Yixing and smiles.  **“As part of my training when I was younger, I had to guard and nurture hatchlings in our kingdom.”**

Yixing tilts his head to the side and says, **“Their parents don’t raise them?”** Minseok nods his head. **“They do, but I was assigned to care for the ones that were orphans.”**

Junmyeon joins in the conversation.  **“Minseok has been visiting and caring for them, even when he’s not assigned anymore. If he’s not training, sleeping or eating, he’s at the orphanage with the hatchlings.”** Yixing hums and smiles at Minseok. 

**“That’s very sweet of you. You’d be a great parent, although, I think you have a few dragons and Bubbles to take care of.”** They laugh together, which gain the attention of Baekhyun. He slows down to talk to them.

**“What were you guys laughing about?”**

**“Minseok being a mother.”**

**“I can be a father.”**

**“Definitely a mother.”**

Minseok shakes his head and walks ahead, leaving them behind. He looks at the air dragons, they were all separated. Jongdae and Luhan at one side while Sehun was at the other. He ignores it and walks to the front, walking next to Kyungsoo and Jongin.

He looks at the small fairy, glowing pink. He lowers his head to look closely at it. The fairy looks back at him, still fluttering forward. The fairy giggles and pokes Minseok’s nose, leaving a residue of pink dust.

The fairy sits on his nose and motions forward with her finger. Minseok, lifts her up and walk forward.

**“Wow, I’ve never seen fairies behave like that around strangers. Even earth dragons have trouble befriending them.”** Jongin’s voice catches Minseok’s attention.

**“Must be my charms. I mean, this one is pretty cute.”** The fairy puts their hands on their cheeks and giggles.

**“Are your flirting with a fairy?”** Kyungsoo’s astonish voice makes him laugh.

**“It’s called complimenting. If I was flirting, it would’ve been entirely differently.”** He goes back to paying attention to the fairy. They must be talking because there’s bells ringing as the fairy pets his scales.

Kyungsoo gasps and glares at the fairy.  **“You shouldn’t say those things. Especially when he doesn't understand.”**

**“What did they say?”** Minseok quirks an eyebrow as the fairy pouts.

**“She said that if you weren’t a dragon and instead of a fairy, she would’ve already had her way with you.”** Minseok takes a second to understand before he laughs loudly. The fairy stands and constant bells ringing were filling his ears. He can feel a few stares from the dragons behind him but he doesn’t care. A fairy finds him attractive even though he’s a dragon; this really feeds his self esteem.

Junmyeon and the other two walk up and looks at the fairy who’s hugging minseok’s horn. 

**“Minseok, why do you have a fairy on your head?”** To be honest, Minseok doesn’t know either. If he has to be a steering wheel for a fairy who has the hots for him, then so be it. Yixing gasps and looks at Minseok in complete awe.

**“Pinkie has a crush on you? How did this happen?”** At least now Minseok knows the fairy’s name. Pinkie hugs tighter and giggles as she gives a kiss on Minseok’s horn and pets him. Junmyeon’s in shock, a fairy is attracted to Minseok?

**“Calm down there.”** Minseok says to Pinkie and they nod with giggles. Jongin looks at the water dragon and smiles. 

**“You’re good at making people comfortable.”** Minseok blushes.

**“Minseok has been doing these kinds of things since he was a hatchling. He has that aura around him but it’s also in his nature to lure.”** Junmyeon informs and Yixing tilts his head.

**“It’s almost impossible to imagine that you can fight so well.”**

**“I don’t fight just for the hell of it. I do it to protect myself and everyone around me that can’t. It’s a very violent art form and a great way to keep myself in check.”** Minseok feels a tug on his right ear, making him turn. 

They walked for a while more until they see a huge field of flowers. Pinkie pats him on the head and motions forward, under a willow tree surrounded by a pond.

**“Now this is a great first date.”** Baekhyun says as he stares at the field.

**“Pinkie is saying that we should rest here for a while until she restores some of her energy.”** Yixing says as Minseok drops Pinkie on top of a pink tulip. Once Pinkie lays down, they fall fast asleep.

Junmyeon walks to the small pond by the willow tree and drinks from it. It has a fresh taste to it with a hint of floral. He looks at Minseok laying beside Pinkie. He collects water in his pouches and walk to him. 

Minseok lifts his head and smiles.  **“You brought some for Bubbles too?”** Junmyeon nods and grabs Bubbles from Minseok’s wings. Minseok takes his time drinking water from Junmyeon’s pouch. They stay there for a moment, feeling the zephyr of the flower field.

Baekhyun comes up to them and lays next to Minseok. He crawls under Minseok’s wing and snuggles next to him. Like a switch has been turned on, Minseok’s eyes turns into slits and he snuggles closer to fire dragon.

Junmyeon shakes his head and walks away from them. He sits next to the pond and plays around with the water, making shapes and scenes.

**“You’re a water dragon, you control water.”** Yixing walks up to him. He sits next to him as Junmyeon continues to play with the pond water. Yixing looks at a wilting flower and touch it with his claws. The once wilted flower is now standing all beautiful. 

**“You revived the flower.”** Junmyeon says with his eyes almost popping out of his head.

**“Well, I’m an earth dragon with the ability to heal any living thing.”** Yixing says with a small smile on his lips.

**“That’s amazing, you're amazing.”** Yixing blushes and picks a flower from the field and adds it to his body. The flower, blooming above his heart.

They both smile at each other for a moment before Bubbles starts to stir awake. Yixing looks at Junmyeon, wondering what he’s going to do. Junmyeon puts Bubbles inside of the small pond, swimming happily and chasing the small fishes. 

**“How’d you know what Bubbles wants?”**

Junmyeon stares at Yixing and thinks for a moment.  **“It just comes naturally. We’re connected to water. We have special bonds to our surroundings: dragons, sea creatures, water. It must be the same as you; you feel connected to the earth as well as the plants around you. You can feel their pain, you can feel their growth.”**

Yixing nods at Junmyeon. **“Nobody has ever put it that way before.”** Junmyeon hums and looks at the birds soaring in the sky. 

**“I was taught and raised to see things from different perspectives. Imagining myself in their wings. You may not agree but that doesn’t mean you can’t understand. Before the whole ‘Water Dragons have no morals’ thing happened, we had and still have morals. We just shifted our focus to protecting our Kingdom. We used to be a symbol of elegance, beauty and power. I was taught about our history and other dragon’s history.”**

**“Did you have a mentor teaching you?”**

**“No. Aqua, who's my mother’s advisor, Minseok and my mother taught me everything I needed to know. I was also raised with other Water Dragons instead of being cooped up in my den.”**

**“Minseok taught you?”**

**“Yeah, he’s older and has experienced things that I have never. He’s gone through the worst so that I don’t. Whenever mother couldn’t be with me, he was there raising me. He’s more like an older brother; whenever I need advice, comfort or just a really bad joke, I go to him.”**

**“That’s really nice.”**

**“It comes naturally to him. I envy him sometimes but then I remember that I have qualities he envies too. We all have something that others want for themselves and that’s why we need to treasure them.”**

**“I feel like that’s something an Earth Dragon would say with all the wisdom coming out of you.”**

**“What can I say, I was raised differently. I was raised to communicate and become a leader. Minseok was raised to protect and to nurture. We’re both Water Dragons but individually we’re different. We may have the same blood, traits and customs but that doesn’t entirely defines us.”**

**“Are all water dragons like you?”**

**“Probably. I mean, we all have those good and bad dragons. Some only love to fight and bring pain to others. Some only want to help care for others.**

**Minseok is a special case, he enjoys fighting but not for the reason some might know. He fights to bring honor, to protect and to show that he’s not weak. He has to prove himself multiple times that he won’t be taken advantage of just because he’s royal. He loves to help hatchlings. He helps the elderly with some of their daily chores. He’s the reason of some of my actions.”**

**“That must be really nice. Your bond with each other is strong.”**

**“It is and I’m very happy about it. I wish that one day, he’ll make a stronger bond with someone else.”**

Yixing hums and smiles at the Water Serpent. He wasn’t what Yixing was expecting; the wise words and the sincerity in his tone. He expected some straightforward answer without giving a single thought. He knows that he shouldn’t judge character because of their race but even his King told him not to expect much.

Kyungsoo walks towards them and sits down next to Yixing.  **“What are you two doing?”**

Yixing turns towards his prince and smiles. **“Well, we were just talking about how much we have in common even though we’re different.”** Junmyeon nods and looks at Kyungsoo, who in return, looks at him.

**“I see. Well, Jongin went to snuggle up with the water and fire dragon.”**

Junmyeon snorts. He really can’t believe that Minseok got those dragons wrapped around his claws.

**“Minseok likes to take care of hatchlings in his free time. He probably sees them as hatchlings that need to be protected.”**

Yixing lays his paw on Kyungsoo’s back. He starts to rub the crevices in his skin, a soothing gesture. Junmyeon closes his eyes and feels the wind blowing against his scales. 

A soothing hum enters the earth dragon’s ears and they both look at Junmyeon. He’s closing his eyes and the water in the pond slowly moves along. The teardrop jewels connecting Junmyeon’s lower lip to his shoulders starts glowing the longer he hums. After a while, he stops and looks at the two earth dragons.

**“Relaxed?”**

Kyungsoo nods. He looks at Minseok’s figure, him protecting Jongin under his wing. He smiles and turns to Junmyeon.

**“I’m quite happy that he feels comfort in another dragon other than me, I guess.”**

Junmyeon shakes his head.  **“You don’t have to worry about anything. Jongin isn’t Minseok’s type.”**

Yixing laughs at this and flower petals surrounding them shakes as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a month, I finally uploaded another chapter!
> 
> Did you guys hear the news about Jongdae? He's going to get married and become a father, which I'm so excited about.
> 
> That doesn't mean I'll stop writing some ships with him because it's PURELY FICTION. I respect him, his wife and his future baby.
> 
> I still don't have an upload schedule so please bear with me.


	3. Chapter 3

With Pinkie well rested and the rest of the dragons, they set out on their journey. Hours pass with Pinkie on Minseok’s head, controlling the direction. The usual chatter continues but Kyungsoo watches the air dragons. They’re separated from each other, Sehun on one side from the other two, who are talking among each other.

Kyungsoo looks at Minseok, who isn’t participating in the conversation. “Have you seen the air dragons?” Minseok nods and looks at the group chatting.

“Yeah, they’ve been like that the entire time.”

“Do you think they fought?”

“Probably but it isn’t our place to know. They need to deal with it themselves because it’s their problem.”

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows a little. “Wouldn’t it be better if they try to talk it out?”

“Yes, but they shouldn’t talk because we want them to. They need to do it themselves or else they won’t ever know how to deal with their problems without someone telling them to.”

“I can see why you would think that.”

Minseok hums and he feels a soft tug on his horn. The fairy was slowly telling him to slow down. He slows but it seems that the other dragons weren’t paying attention. He looks at Pinkie growing restless.

“Hey, you okay?” She shakes her head and clings tighter to his horn.

He looks around and notices how the trees get gloomier and the area gets darker. The trees have sharp edges and the bushes have thorns. The sun is setting and they haven’t found a place to rest. He walks up to Kyungsoo and nudges him.

“Hey, we should rest for the night and continue in the morning.” Kyungsoo shakes his head. 

“We already took a break, we can continue in the dark and with Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s power, we won’t have trouble walking.”

“Pinkie says we should rest for the night.”

“Fairies are scared of the dark because they can’t gain source from the sun or the plants that are resting. She’s going to be fine.”

Minseok furrows his eyebrows when he feels Pixie shaking on top of his head.

“She knows where the Emerald Jungle is placed.”

“So does Jongin. He doesn’t seem like he wants to stop. Stopping would take us longer to get there and I doubt we want that.”

Kyungsoo ignores him and walks forward, leaving Minseok behind the group. He watches as Junmyeon, Jongin, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Yixing are chatting. Kyungsoo is talking with Sehun and then there are the two inseparable air dragons.

He feels something wet on his horn and he freezes. He hears small whimpers and he panics. “Pinkie, don’t cry. It’s going to be okay. We can go slow so you don’t have to get tired okay.”

Pinkie shakes her head and waves around the area. She points at the black trees and the scary-looking bushes. Pixie dust starts forming around her and images emerge from the dust. His eyes widen when he sees dangerous looking creatures.

“Do they know what’s in this forest?” Pinkie shakes her head.

“Is that why you're here?” She nods and makes an exaggerated body movement.

“Let me try to convince Junmyeon and probably some of the other dragons?” She nods and gives his horn a peck. He smiles and walks to his brother.

He seems to be chatting with Jongin, a great opportunity to convince both of them.

“Hey Junmyeon, can we take a break for the night and continue tomorrow early in the morning?”

Junmyeon looks at him and a sad look passes over his face. “We can’t Minseok. We already took a rest over the flower fields and we won’t be able to make it on time to the Jungle of Emeralds.”

Minseok looks at Jongin and is met with the same look. “It’s a long way, I’m sorry. If we took breaks often, we won’t be able to make it on time.”

Minseok nods and slows down and watches them go back to conversing. Pinkie is shivering on him and he smiles sadly.

“I tried Pixie, I did. Maybe Yixing would understand, he’ll listen to you.” He walks over to Yixing listening to Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s story.

“Hey, Yixing. Can we stop for the night and continue tomorrow early morning?”

Yixing smiles and nods. “I think that’s a great idea, I need rest too. Fairies don’t do well at night. I’m also getting a strange feeling around here, so I think I'll like a rest.”

Minseok relaxes and smiles at Yixing. “Oh god, thank you. Pinkie is tired and she told me creatures are lurking around this part at night. I tried convincing Junmyeon, Jongin, and Kyungsoo but they think we rested enough on the field.”

Yixing furrows his eyebrows and shakes his head. “No, if Pinkie is tired we stay. She’s the one that knows how to get there safely. Why do you think she came with us instead of one of the most experienced ones.”

Pinkie giggles and Minseok smiles. Yixing and Minseok slow down a bit, walking behind the group. Yixing watches as Pinkie cuddles closer to Minseok. “She likes you a lot.”

Minseok smiles and stares at the ground. “I’m happy about that. Of course, platonically, but I’m quite happy that I have a fairy friend.”

“You do well with Pinkie and Bubbles. Have you ever thought of having any?” Minseok nods his head.

“Yeah, I do. I want to raise some of my hatchlings. I just haven’t found my mate yet. You?”

“I want to have a nest. Same with you, I haven’t found my mate. Most dragons don’t want me because I caught their attention at our mating ceremony.”

“Mating ceremony?”

Yixing nods. “We have a mating ceremony where unmated dragons attend a ceremony that happens once a year in spring. On that night, we all run in a field with the glowing moonflowers, with the full moon shining above us and we try to find a connection with anyone there. I haven’t found anyone who’s felt any sort of connection toward me.”

“Maybe they aren’t an earth dragon? Water Dragons don’t limit possibilities in one kingdom.”

“Oh really? I didn’t know.”

“Yeah, we have a lot of dragons from different kingdoms living with us.”

“But don’t you live underwater?”

Minseok shakes his head. “We do live underwater but some of us like sunbathing, flying and walking. We live in lagoons, so the air dragons can fly, fire dragons can sunbathe and earth dragons lay near the trees. Some hatchlings are a mix of both kingdoms.”

“Wow, I want to go there after this mess.” 

Minseok laughs. “Sure, you can have the 5-star experience there.”

They both laugh. Minseok notices Jongdae and Luhan carefully walking towards them.

“Sorry to disturb but is it possible if we can take a rest for the night?” Luhan quietly asks.

Yixing nods and says, “We also want to have a break but they don’t want to.”

“Bullshit,” Luhan whispers before he smacks his mouth. Yixing stares in shock before he laughs. Luhan flushes pink and laughs a little.

Minseok looks at them and smiles. “I’ll ask if we can stop for the night again.” He walks over to Junmyeon and taps his shoulder. Junmyeon turns and smiles.

“Junmyeon, is it possible if we can stop for the night. Yixing, Luhan, Jongdae, Pinkie and I are really tired.” Junmyeon’s smile turns into a frown before he sighs.

“I’m sorry Minseok but we can’t, we’ll lose too much time.” Jongin nods at Junmyeon’s words, even though he has a sad smile. Chanyeol and Baekhyun walk up to them and asks what they were talking about.

“Minseok and the others want to sleep for the night. We told him we can’t because it’ll take time away.” Chanyeol’s smile fades and he looks at Minseok.

“I have to agree with them Minseok, we can rescue those dragons faster if we continue.”

“Don’t we have to be in great shape though? We’ll be tired when we get there.” Minseok tries to reason with them. He looks at Baekhyun but he looks away, not meeting his eyes.

Kyungsoo walks up to them and looks at Minseok. “Is this about taking a nap?” Chanyeol nods and Kyungsoo sighs.

“What don’t you understand that we’ll lose precious time. We can use that time traveling and getting closer to the Jungle of Emeralds.” Minseok senses hostility from him. He furrows his eyebrows before his mind came up with something.

Minseok smiles with his lips quirked a little at the edges and Junmyeon tenses up. Junmyeon knows that smile, the one where Misneok has a plan that will  _ only _ benefit him.

“Fine, then you guys go on ahead and we’ll rest here.” Baekhyun’s eyes almost pop out from his sockets.

“What, you can’t be on your own.”

“I won’t be, I’ll have the other dragons with me.”

Junmyeon furrows his eyebrows. “We’ll be separated and mother told us that no dragon gets left behind.”

“Exactly.” Minseok stares at Junmyeon. His stare always makes Junmyeon uncomfortable because he knows that he’ll regret everything later.

It went silent. “We’ll catch up to you guys, don’t worry. You guys go on ahead. Good luck.” Minseok sends them a smile and walks away from them.

He walks towards the other dragons and smiles at them. “So they’ll go on ahead and we’ll stay here.”

Yixing winces. “Did they decide that?” Minseok nods and Pinkie motions for them towards a direction. He walks where she points.

Jongdae walks up to Minseok and questions him. “Who’s going to protect them?”

Minseok smirks. All the dragons gape at him before Yixing runs to him. “You can’t be serious.”

“Very. They knew what they were doing. If they get killed, oh well.” 

Luhan says, “I thought no dragon gets let behind?”

“We’re the ones getting left behind. Don’t forget that I asked them nicely and not forcefully. Something that I learned from a young is ‘do what’s good for the team not for yourself.’ If we continue when we’re tired, we’ll die faster because we won’t have any strength left to help the dragons but also defend ourselves from Rogues.”

Yixing hums. “I see your point but they don’t know how to defend themselves from the creatures.”

Luhan and Jongdae turn their heads so fast that they could’ve snapped their neck. “Creatures?” Yixing nods.

“Yeah, Pinkie knows the safest route to the Jungle of Green Emeralds; that’s why she was chosen instead of one f the more experienced ones. She also knows what lurks in these areas, but she’s also very weak and vulnerable at night because she can’t get her energy from the sun and awake plants. Like me.” Yixing smiles sheepishly at the phrase.

“I did wish them good luck.” Minseok comments which Jongdae and Luhan laugh at.

~~~

They reach a spot where there are enough spaces and comfortable grass for them to lay on. Minseok takes a spot near a pond and lays there, his tail dipped inside. Jongdae walks up to his and smiles sheepishly. Misneok looks at him and smirks. He raises his wings and lets Jongdae settle in them. Luhan watches the scene and smiles, a sad one. He walks near them and lays beside Jongdae but not inside Misneok’s wings. Yixing decides to join the party and sleep with them as well.

They close their eyes and let sleep engulf them. A smile on their lips.

~~~

Birds were chirping and Jongdae opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is how close Minseok’s face is. He notices the smaller scales decorating his skin and the light breathing. He looks away quickly and notices Yixing and Luhan were also sleeping. He shuffles a little and stiffens when Minseok pulls him closer. Jongdae can feel Minseok’s scales on him back and this isn’t doing so well on his heart. He closes his eyes but that made it worse, he can feel his muscles and oh, he’s cuddling.

His heart is beating at a rapid pace and his scales are starting to tingle. He manages to escape his limbs and crawl to clearing without the dragons nearby. He lets the electricity charged up in him release little by little. After there wasn’t any left in him, he turns around just to stare at Luhan.

Luhan woke up from his slumber and is smiling at him. His face turns darker than possible, considering his black scales. Luhan flies towards him and laughs at him once he’s in proximity.

“Look at you, with an adorable crush.” Jongdae pouts at him and tries his best to look threatening. Luhan continues to laugh at him quietly while he flies around him in circles.

Slowly the other dragons woke up. Yixing smiles and wish them a good morning while Minseok was blankly staring at a spot on the grassy area. After a few moments, he stretches and walks towards them. Pinkie also woke up and latched onto her spot in between his horns.

“Did you guys sleep well?” Yixing asks and the air dragons nod. Minseok hums and looks at them questioningly.

“We need to find food so we don’t start our morning hungry.” They all nod.

Luhan raises his leg. “Question. What about the other team?”

“We’ll find them after we eat because I’m not leaving on an empty stomach,” Yixing says which surprises the four of them (one of them being Pinkie).

Minseok laughs and nudges them forward. “Let’s go find your fruit and we’ll find our meat.”

They all laugh and walk toward the direction that Pinkie’s leading them in.

~~~

Once they have found a deer to eat and Yixing some fruit, they set on walking toward the Jungle of Emeralds. The whole trip was full of chatter and laughter, they weren’t worried about anything.

Minseok stops in his tracks and his ear fins began to vibrate. Yixing noticed this and tapped his shoulders.

“What’s wrong?”

“Junmyeon and the rest are in trouble.”

They all widen their eyes and follow after Minseok, who’s running forward. Jongdae caught up quickly but Minseok suddenly turned around and handed Yixing Pinkie.

“She’ll tell you where I am.”

He turns around and dashes forward toward Junmyeon’s screeching. The adrenaline is pumping through him and his senses turn sharp. He feels the jabs from all the tree branches and bushes but he doesn’t pay attention. He turns around a corner and his eyes harden as he watches a Rogue backing them against a mountain.

Without hesitation he tackles the dragon down and freezes him, turning his body into ice. He lifts himself from the ice statue and stares at the other dragons.

“Guess you didn’t have much luck.” He says at the dragons trembling. Yixing and the others were panting as they reached their destination.

“Oh my god, you're so fast,” Luhan said panting. Jongdae was about to walk forward when he sees the frozen statue of a dragon. He turns around and sees Minseok calmly standing there. He turns around and walks toward the three dragons. He goes up to Pinkie and she places herself in her usual spot. 

Yixing looks at the group huddled together and he looks at Minseok, not looking bothered at all. He leans over and whispers, “Aren’t you worried?”

“I was worried, that’s why I ran here. Now that the threat is gone, I’m not bothered anymore.” He says with a shrug and walks toward the frozen statue.

Yixing follows after him. “Aren’t you going to check up on them, especially Junmyeon?”

Minseok’s eyes harden and his stance stiffens. “No. They decided to go on their own, knowing the dangers out there without any protection. They decided to go forward and continue when I told them we should rest. ‘No dragon gets left behind’ is what I live by. You guys wanted to rest so I stayed with you guys.”

Yixing stays silent after that and looks at Jongdae, looking at the frozen statue, sniffing it.

Minseok leans closer and sees and emblem on the dragon’s shoulder. The Rogue emblem, that shows their loyalty to their own and independence from the kingdom.

Luhan sits near Minseok and asks if he can unfreeze him. Minseok shakes his head.

“There’s a difference between what I did to Chanyeol and this Rogue. With Chanyeol, I froze him in a way that wouldn’t harm him immediately but slowly. This one, a quick death like freezing them entirely and making them entirely into ice is enough to shatter them.”

Jongdae pokes it and the statue makes a clinking noise against his claws. He continues to poke at it and sniff it. Curiosity fills his body and he rolls the dragon over. He looks at the statue’s back and notices multiple scars. Deep scars and gashes.

Baekhyun crawls towards them and smiles. Minseok just stares at him and gives him a light smile. Baekhyun walks closer but Minseok steps back. Baekhyun frowns and tilts his head.

“I saved your life because I wanted to, but it doesn’t mean I entirely forgive you for leaving us behind. If you want to go back to the way it was, you have to earn it before I let you inside my wing again.”

Baekhyun gapes and sadly nods. He walks back to his mate and lays there pouting.

“Junmyeon, you know how to fight decently. You could’ve defeated him if you wanted to.” Minseok bluntly says. He sighs and walks away from them and climbs up the mountain. He doesn’t look back and watch Junmyeon’s face turn distraught.

Luhan flies next to him. “Weren’t you too harsh?” Minseok sighs. “No. If I didn’t come and help them than they could’ve either a) been killed or b) captured. Life and death, that’s what we’re doing right now. Yes, no one gets left behind but if they don’t put effort and don’t try to defend themselves, why the fuck would I help them if they want to die?”

Jongdae quickly catches up to them, but he’s currently flying like Luhan. “I’m wondering, why aren’t you flying?”

Minseok laughs. “It’s because I fly better in cold weather than humid or hot weather. Right now, it’s quite humid. Once, I’m high enough, I’ll be able to fly.” Jongdae hums and flies in loops in the air.

Yixing carefully climbs, with the help of Luhan. “If I fall, what happens?”

Luhan shakes his head and laughs. “I wouldn’t let you. You're too precious to die.”

Yixing smiles and manages to catch up to Minseok. Yixing tries to hang on but sometimes slips off. Luhan holds onto Yixing even when he looks like he’s doing fine.

The other group of dragons still tremble. They encountered a Rogue abruptly and the only way they were alive is because Minseok heard Junmyeon’s cry for help. Baekhyun looks at the four dragons climbing the mountain. Yixing was having some trouble but it seems like they got closer and protective with each other.

Baekhyun looks at Chanyeol. “Should we follow them?” Chanyeol stares at Junmyeon and he nods his head. They all climb the mountain, some going slower while others are faster. Luhan was helping Yixing climb while Jongdae looks around the area. Junmyeon’s a little slow but he does have a tight grip. 

Minseok pulls himself over the mountain and looks over the huge land, covered in green, brown and blue. Jongdae lands beside him and stumbles a bit, clumsy with his landing. Minseok and Pinkie laugh at the air dragon.

Jongdae blushes and sits upright. He dusts off the gravel off his scales and flaps his wings. He looks at the water dragon admiring the scene. He takes a huge inhale and the frills on top of his headstand. The air is refreshing and it felt nice against Jongdae’s skin.

A loud thud sound behind them and Jongdae turns around to see Yixing and Luhan laying down. 

“This is so much exercise.” Yixing pants and Luhan nods. 

“I had to support him the entire climb. I don’t have a body built for this.” Jongdae laughs at the golden air dragon. Yixing gets up, still panting and walks over to where they are.

“Wow, this is beautiful.”

“I agree, the exercise was worth it.” Luhan exhales while the other three dragons laugh and Pinkie giggles.

They stay there for a moment, taking a small break while waiting for the others to catch up. Sehun lands swiftly next to Luhan, which made Yixing jump at the sudden appearance of the air dragon.

Sehun stares at Luhan and he shrinks down. Yixing watches this and frowns. He walks toward Minseok and lays a paw on his shoulder. Jongdae watches his friend and mate, making him shrink also. He walks closer to Minseok, his eyes catching Yixing’s.

The rest of the dragons catch up and lay panting on the mountain below. Minseok gets up and walks toward the cliff. He looks down and turns toward Jongdae and Yixing.

“You guys wanna dive?” Jongdae bounces and nods while Yixing nods too, but not as enthusiastically. Minseok looks at Pinkie, who’s hanging tightly on his horn.

“Better be ready.” Pinkie nods quickly before a loud screech was heard from her. He dives backward and feels the cold air encompass him. He feels his horn held tightly and his tail fins spread out.

He feels an electric presence beside him and sees Jongdae diving with him, but even faster. Yixing was far but he reaches them in a couple of moments. He watches as the trees get closer and he spreads his wings right before he hits the tree.

Jongdae glides over the trees smoothly while Yixing crashes into the tree. The tree holding Yixing closely and making flowers bloom around him. Jongdae flyings back towards them and he does multiple loops around them.

Pinkie giggles and points at Jongdae. Jongdae tilts his head while batting his wings. Jongdae hears Luhan shouting at them from the top and he watches as Luhan tries motioning him upwards.

Jongdae flies upwards at a fast speed and Misneok and Yixing watch in awe at how fast Jongdae is. Minseok doesn’t close his mouth until Pinke closes his jaw for him. He shakes his head and Pinkie giggles.

When Jongdae is at the eye length of Luhan he asks him why he called him. 

“Why are you conversing with them?” Sehun says as he makes himself known. His stare makes Jongdae want to shrivel up and disappear into the air.

“Mother told us not to hang out with them. We’re only here to help the other dragons out. I didn’t notice that you guys were gone until Kyungsoo told me.”

Jongdae can feel the wind around them turning harsher. Luhan winces when the wind pushes him back a bit. Sehun looks terrifying when he’s angry and he has a good reason to be exact. 

“We’re sorry, it’s just that we got tired and we just wanted to rest. The other dragons wanted to rest too so we decided to take a rest while the rest walked forward.” 

The wind turned harsher; he can feel his scales almost ripping apart from the sheer force. 

“That still doesn’t excuse you from not telling me.”

Jongdae winces at his harsh tone. He didn’t like it at all but what can he do when his prince is snarling at him. The wind stops and when he looks at Sehun, the air dragon was back to his resting bitch face.

“Don’t do something so disappointing again.” He turns around and walks away from them.


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I haven't uploaded earlier but there have been so many things happening this month.  
> 1) There are 75 cases in my area and so I haven't been able to go outside and gain inspiration. I write in libraries, cafes, school or other places. I don't like writing in my room if that makes sense.
> 
> 2)My teachers think that because we're in self-isolation and have nowhere to go, they give us a shit ton of assignments. I had so many projects, essays and exams/tests.
> 
> Please appreciate this small chapter that I managed to write in my room.

The journey is tense. Days have passed with Minseok and Yixing walking behind the group. Pinkie is softly petting Minseok’s horn and Yixing is conversing with the little fairy.

The air dragons are clumped together. After the incident on the cliff, they haven’t separated. Luhan and Jongdae aren’t talking to each other like they normally do. Junmyeon was having an interactive conversation with the two earth dragons and the fire dragons.

Yixing’s horned tail whips around. “I don’t like this.”

Minseok tilts his head and waits for the dragon to explain further.

“The entire team is separated. The air dragons are secluding themselves even though we were fine earlier today. The other group is so focused on the mission that they aren’t paying attention to anything else.”

“We can’t do anything about that Yixing. The only thing we can do is hope for everything to get better.” 

Pinkie sings a soft tune and smiles at the earth dragon. Yixing smiles softly and a tulip grows on his leg.

“I hope that this situation will get better.”

“Count me in. I don’t like being aggressive.”

~~~

A few hours of traveling and the moon is beginning to rise. Some distance away, a light path is glowing.

Kyungsoo turns around and tells everyone that they arrived in a small town. “We arrived at Terre, it’s a small town made up of earth dragons.”

The dragons follow the path until a blue fairy comes forward. Pinkie flutters off Minseok and chats with the other fairy.

The blue fairy sprinkles blue dust and leads them to a tree. The fairy sprinkles more dust onto the tree and the tree opens up, leading them underground. They all walk down the path until the last dragon enters and the tree closes.

Glowing flowers light up the small tunnel, Minseok looking at the flowers closely.

“Those are called Brillo, which means glow.” Yixing whispers and Minseok keeps looking at the vibrant flowers.

They stop at a concrete wall and the blue fairy writes with their blue dust ancient runes on the wall. The second the last rune was written, the runes glowed and the wall opened in half. The path leads to another tunnel and the Brillo glows brilliantly.

The blue fairy talks with Pinkie, leading them down the narrow path. Minseok keeps looking at the Brillo and declares it his favorite flower; he doesn’t know if there can be any other flower that can be more beautiful.

Minseok hears a gasp coming from the dragons in front of him and when he looks at their direction, he also lets out a gasp.

A waterfall with Brillo behind it makes the water glow. Concrete steps lead down to the direction of huge tree trunks. Dragons with roots, dirt, moss, and leaves are everywhere, from the top of the trees to the small lake at the bottom of the waterfall. Arches cut through the trees to make homes, underground staircases, tree huts, and caves.

He feels a nudge from Yixing and he turns to look at him. “Terre is known for being a sanctuary whenever someone gets injured. A lot of dragons here come for medical purposes but also a free life. Most dragons are old, ill or young.”

Minseok looks at the small hatchlings playing near the lake, with an aged dragon watching them from a boulder. He smiles and thinks that Terre is a calming town where dragons can live their lives peacefully.

He follows the group and he notices a huge dragon, made up entirely of rocks walk towards them. Kyungsoo seems to notice the dragon and talks with him for a moment. Minseok can feel the stares directed at them and he doesn’t feel calm. He looks at all possible exits and most of them are blocked by either a dragon or a natural resource. This place is very protected from the outside.

Kyngsoo’s announcement shook him away from his thoughts. “We’ll be staying here for the night and plan on how to continue the journey.” 

Minseok knows that Kyungsoo is talking to everyone but he can feel Kyungsoo’s stares directed at him. He feels targeted and he can feel his eyes burn slightly. He stares at the hatchlings, hoping to calm himself down a little.

“He’ll show us where we’re going to spend the night,” Kyungsoo says and follows the rock dragon. “If you need anything, don’t forget to ask.” 

Minseok sighs and watches as Pinkie was still chatting with the blue fairy. He smiles slightly at the view of Pinkie making a friend. They walk along a used path made of cobble and Minseok watches the earth dragons conversing with each other.

A gruff voice spoke in the quiet atmosphere of the group. “We’re heading towards the caretaking department and we have some rock shelters there.” Minseok watches the rock dragon’s tail point at multiple rock dens. He sees hatchlings playing in one of them and an elderly sleeping in another one.

“We also usually keep the injured in there too. We don’t usually get visitors.” The rock dragon shyly says and Kyungsoo shakes his head.

“It’s perfectly fine, thank you for making quick accommodations.”

“Anything for our prince.” He bows as a goodbye and walks away from them.

Kyungsoo turns around to face the group. “We’ll be sleeping in groups so we don’t take many dens. There’s ten of us so we can split into groups of threes and one of us can sleep alone.”

The air dragons stand next to each other, making them a complete group. Chanyeol and Baekhyun stand next to Junmyeon, which left Yixing to share a shelter with the mated earth dragons.

Minseok bitterly smiles inside his head, of course making him sleep alone. Pinkie flies with Yixing and lands on his horns, she waves at Minseok and he smiles. They all walk to their respective dens and when he gets comfortable inside.

He watches the hatchlings play with each other in front of his den, not noticing him. One of the trips and smack their nose against the dirt. The other laughs and helps the other from the ground. He smiles at the action, he wished he had a friendship like theirs when he was young. He simply watches them and lays his head down on his paws.

The two hatchlings start chasing each other and he remembers how his childhood consisted of training and lessons. He never really communicated with other dragons quite as well as Junmyeon. Junmyeon was the only thing that was close to a friend or brother. The hatchlings try to catch the other’s tail while snarling and growling at each other.

He chuckles at the small noises they make and when the smallest one manages to win, he smiles proudly. He shouldn’t be stuck inside his current den, he should be outside having fun and exploring. He walks out and he goes to the lake connected to the waterfall. He dips his webbed paws down and his ear fins begin to flutter at the cold feeling. He submerges himself in the lake and swims around for a while, a little bit away from the other dragons. His scales glow a little at the feeling of cold water rubbing against them.

His tail fin slaps against the water and propels him forward, he swims downward, upward, sideways, everywhere. He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to swim in the journey and the feeling of the water against his scales makes him immensely happy.

He relaxes and floats on the surface of the water, his tail fin moving him slowly. He feels eyes looking at him and he turns to the direction. The two hatchlings are staring at him in awe, the smaller one’s tail wagging while the taller one’s mouth is gaping open.

He turns around and swims towards them slowly, reaching to the dusty surface meeting the water. The smaller one walks forward and he notices that when the smaller dragons smile widely, they have a few teeth growing in.

“Wow, that was so cool. I wish I could swim like that.” The smaller praises and Minseok can’t help the pink blush spreading on his cheek. 

“Thank you for the compliment. I’m a water dragon so we’re good at swimming. We can do so many tricks.”

The taller of the two tilts his head. “How long can you hold your breath for?”

“I can breathe underwater.” The two hatchlings gasp loudly and their eyes widen. “You see these lines against my neck?” He points at his neck with his claws. They nod. “These are called gills, they make it so that I can breathe underwater. I also have nostrils, so I can also breathe when I’m not underwater, like right now.”

“That’s awesome.” The taller one says. Minseok hums and walks out of the water, his scales reflecting the light from the Brillo flowers. He crouches down at their level and smiles.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what's your name?”

“My name is Ten.” The smaller one says.

“And my name is Mark.”The taller hatchling says.

Minseok walks back to his den with the two hatchlings following beside him. “Well, my name is Minseok.” He lays inside his den and the two hatchlings join along and snuggle next to him.

Most grown dragons don’t like it when hatchlings or other dragons get inside of their dens or comfort zone but Minseok didn’t mind.

Ten climbs on his back and spreads out. “Do you have any cool powers?”

Mark grabs onto Minseok’s tail and cuddles it. “My power is Golem Creation. I can make golems out of the woods, dirt, leaves, and rocks around me.”

“And my power is Granulation. I can turn anything into sand if I touch it.” Ten plays with his tail while still being on top of Minseok.

“My power is called Ice. Anything to do with ice, I can do it.” He hears two loud ‘wows’ from the hatchlings. Minseok lets them use him as their playground and after a while, he sees the dragons outside heading into their homes to go to sleep.

“Don’t you two have somewhere to go right now. It’s getting dark and you need to sleep so you guys can grow big and strong.”

Mark and Ten looks at each other and their smile slowly fades. “We don’t have a home really, our parents left us here and the town feeds us but we don’t have a home,” Mark says.

Minseok tugs the two hatchlings closer to him and covers them with his wings. “You two can sleep with me tonight, I would like some company.” He watches the two brothers snuggle closer and he couldn’t stop himself from scenting them. They seem unbothered by the action and they repeat the same action to him.

Scenting them would grant them protection from other dragons and he is willing to take on that role. Is it impulsive, yes but he doesn’t want them growing up without anyone to care for.

Ten looks up at him and asks him why he’s in town. 

“I’m traveling with these other dragons to save the world.”

Mark’s eyes widened. “So you're like a hero.”

“You can say that. Back at the Water Kingdom, I’m head royal guard, so my job is to protect the kingdom from evil dragons like Rogues.”

“Tell us a story.”

“Yes, please tell us one.” They both looked at Minseok and he couldn’t resist them.

“I started training to be a hero when I was six years old.”

“That’s how old I am!” 

“Me too!”

“My parents saved our Kingdom from Rogues but unfortunately, they didn’t make it out alive. I was inspired by their determination to protect our kingdom that it motivated me to fight and protect my kingdom from Rogues.”

“What are Rogues?”

Minseok stays silent for a while before laying his head down. “Rogues are dragons that use their powers for no good. They kidnap hatchlings and dragons for their pleasure. They try to destroy our Kingdoms, even when they grew up in it. Earth, Fire, Water and Air dragons can be Rogues.”

“So you and your friends are going to defeat them and bring back the captured dragons,” Mark exclaims and Minseok nods.

“When will you leave?” Mark asks.

“Tomorrow morning probably.”

“Will you visit us when you finish?” Ten asks and Misneok, without hesitation, nods his head.

“I would like to take care of you two but I don’t think I can stay here.”

“We’ll go with you! It’s boring here.” Mark pouts and thumps his tail on the ground.

“Alright but you have to wait okay. I don’t know how long it will take for the villains to be taken down.” Minseok looks at them as their eyes are slowly shutting close. He smiles softly and he nuzzles their heads and cover’s their body entirely with his wing.

^^^

Minseok wakes up with two hatchlings nipping his claws and horns. He groans and when he rolls over, he hears a yelp from the hatchling on top of him.

“I’m up, I’m up.” He blinks his eyes open and is greeted with two hatchlings. 

“Can you play with us before you go?” Mark asks and the older dragon couldn’t say no to him.

He nods to the opening of the den and the two hatchlings run outside. He huffs and crawls out of the den. A few older dragons were calmly walking around the lake and others were eating their breakfast. He watches a group of hatchlings playing beside the lake with their family members.

He feels a small tug on his tail and he moves his tail around. Giggles erupt behind him and a little while after he feels a pair of jaws biting his tail. The other pair of jaws joins in and Minseok hardens his scales on his tail.

“Let’s go and get you two something to eat. When you’re done, we can play all we want.” Two heads nod and lead him to the Village Center.

“The Village Center is where we get our food, most dragons are nice enough to give us their leftovers or something,” Ten says. “I don’t know what your teammates are going to eat.”

They reach the Village Center and a dragon lady laying in the center with food.

Mark’s eyes sparkle. “It’s Lady Lune’s turn today!” He runs to the older dragons and Ten quickly following behind him. Minseok slowly walks after them, not in a rush like the two.

“Hello, you two. How did you wake up this morning?”

“Great, we slept in a den today with Minseok!”

“He’s gonna also take care of us.”

This seemed to surprise the old dragon. Before she could say anymore, she sees Minseok walking towards them. “You must be Misneok.” She raises an eyebrow and scans him from tail to horn.

He nods and stays a couple of feet away from her. He doesn’t know Earth traditions but he does know Water traditions and whenever he’s in the presence of an elderly dragon, stay a couple of feet away from them as a sign of respect.

“Lady Lune, he looks so cool swimming in water. He’s a Water Dragon!” Ten exclaims.

“And a Hero!” Mark adds.

“You two should keep eating, I didn’t make all this food for you to waste.” She lightly scolds and that quietly shuts them up.

She turns her head towards the Water dragon ad stares at him directly in the eyes. “You came with the group of other dragons?”

“Yes, we all came here for a night’s rest.”

“What is a group of dragons from all four kingdoms doing walking in the forest?”

“We have to get to the Jungle of Emeralds.”

“Rogues I see.” She nonchalantly says and starts picking at her claws.

“We’re trying to see if that’s where they have their hideout or where they keep the dragons held hostage.”

She furrows her eyebrows and tilts her head sideways. “Who told you that they’re in the Jungle of Emeralds?”

“The Kings and Queens of the four kingdoms.” Minseok knows she knows something with the look on her face.

She stands up and turns to the two hatchlings. “You two stay here. I’ll go talk with Minseok for a while, grown dragons only.”

She walks to a small patch of land and looks around the area for any sign of dragons. Once there were no dragons, she looks at Minseok. “Wherever they got that information, they’re wrong, somewhat.”

Minseok stiffens and he feels a cold shiver run through his body, which only happens when he senses danger in any form.

“What do you mean? The queen told us that an air dragon escaped and went to us.”

“If you want to find the hideout of the masterminds behind the whole Rogue clan, then go ahead. If you want to rescue the ones held hostage then I recommend you go to Dark Cliff.”

“How do you know all this?” Minseok wonders and the old dragon smiles slowly.

“I was a hostage once and was let out when I fell in love with a Rogue. I live here for the secrecy and as I’m getting older, well the medics here are good at what they do.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Ten said that you’re going to take care of them.”

Minseok laughs quietly and nods his head. “I got attached pretty quickly.”

“I see. Well, their parents were Rogues.”

Minseok’s eyes widen and then he furrows his eyebrows. “How do you know? They told me their parents left them here.”

She sighs and stares at the Ten and Mark. “Most Rogues are forced to do what they’re told to or else they’ll get killed. The Rogue I fell in love with was a caring man but he had to cover himself multiple times. He didn’t want me to suffer anymore so he helped me escape.” She turns to look at Minseok. “When I saw them carrying two hatchlings and leaving them near a pond outside, I knew they were different. Most Rogues would raise their kids in those horrible conditions but they didn’t want that for them.”

Minseok stares at the two hatchlings eating and chatting. “I trust you but my teammates won’t.”

“I can’t help you there. I only gave you the information that I know. I want you to release those hostages and come back for those two, you told them something that can’t be taken away.”

Minseok swallows a lump in his throat and nods. “I’ll try my best.”

“Also, before you go, if you do go to Dark Cliff and meet a dragon named Crecl, tell him that Lune says hi.”

“I’ll do that.”

They both walk back to the two hatchlings and it seems that they finished their breakfast. Ten looks at Minseok and smiles widely. “Can we go play now?” His tail was swinging sideways in excitement.

“Let’s go then but say thank you to Granny Lune.” He watches as the two brothers say ‘Thank you’ to Lady Lune. As they walk back, he feels flower petals brushing against him and he turns back to see Lady Lune smiling at him.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I'm uploading at least once a month because I'm a busy student getting an education.  
> 2\. This is a dragon world, so no shapeshifting to humans.


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